Customer Reviews

Physics, Vol. 1, Second Edition

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I first had physics in college twenty years ago. I was studying (at that time) astronomy and mathematics, so the first college-level physics class I took fully incorporated calculus and advanced mathematics. It was not until recently, as I took a position as tutor at a local community college, that I discovered a rigourous introductory physics text that did not involve calculus (only one semester of calculus is offered at the college, and usually taken concurrently with or after physics).

Walker's text, second edition, is the text we currently use. We offer one semester of physics, so we only get half-way through the text, which seems designed for a two-semester sequence. As the main focus of the college is technical, so the sections on mechanics, thermal physics and electromagnetism are the most essential sections for our degree programmes.

While this text does not assume calculus, it does assume basic trigonometry and analytic geometry. Dealing with angles and graphing are important skills to know here; dealing with vectors is introduced very early in the text, and continues to be very important throughout.

The book is well organised, with chapter summaries, problem-solving techniques summarised at the end of chapter, high concept questions, drawings, photographs, and real-world applications that relate the theory back to actual experience. From the light refraction in raindrops to the workings of the Global Positioning System, students will learn more about the interactions of the world from this text.

The examples follow a format that shows not only the worked solutions, but also the strategies employed to get to the solutions. Problems are pictured (after all, physics deals with real, substantial things), and conceptual considerations are explained (physics is largely story problems that need to be set up properly, after all). The insights and further considerations from the solutions are explored, and other practice problems are suggested (physics is always about going on to the next problem). The examples follow different categories - there are active examples, conceptual checkpoints, and real-world physics exercises.

The book is divided into five primary sections: Mechanics; Thermal Physics; Electromagnetism; Light and Optics; and Modern Physics. Mechanics largely deals with motion, introducing near the end ideas of gravity, sound, fluids and energy. This leads into Thermal Physics, the study of heat, temperature, and the laws of thermodynamics. Electromagnetism looks at electric force, charge, current, potential/potential energy, magnetism and flux. Light and Optics continues this with electromagnetic waves, proceeding to optical instruments and issues of interference and diffraction. The final section on Modern Physics deals with `fun stuff' like relativity, quantum physics, atomic and nuclear physics and radiation.

Like most texts, it comes with various supplements for students and teachers, computer-based and web-based. There are pocket companions and workbooks with solutions that can also be obtained, related to the text.

This is a good text for classroom study, and also a text for independent study. Some of the exercises are difficult to work through, but there are literally dozens (sometimes hundreds) after each chapter, so there is plenty on which to practice, and all the odd-numbered exercises have answers supplied.

I actually own Volumes 1 and 2. I mistakenly bought Vol. 1 AND the complete text that includes both Volumes. We covered both volumes in my physics classes. I think it is a very good text with good exercises.

My teacher for the first semester was excellent and the text was a good tool for helping us learn the subject.
My teacher for the second semester (where we started with circuits and moved on to electromagnetism, relativity, etc) was horrible, though, and the text was not adequate for helping me understand circuits. I needed to supplement the book with lots of specialized books from the school library in order to make up for my teacher's (and the text book's?) inadequacies.

Still, I think the book is good enough and this review probably doesn't matter anyway since you are probably required to buy it for your class.