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This introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, illustrations, and explanations to help students grasp key, fundamental physics concepts.

• ## 1: The Nature of Science and Physics

In this text, you will begin to explore the history of the formal study of physics, beginning with natural philosophy and the ancient Greeks, and leading up through a review of Sir Isaac Newton and the laws of physics that bear his name. You will also be introduced to the standards scientists use when they study physical quantities and the interrelated system of measurements most of the scientific community uses to communicate in a single mathematical language.
• ## 2: Kinematics

Kinematics is the branch of classical mechanics which describes the motion of points, bodies, and systems of bodies without consideration of the masses of those objects, nor the forces that may have caused the motion.

• ## 5: Further Applications of Newton's Laws- Friction, Drag, and Elasticity

It is difficult to categorize forces into various types (aside from the four basic forces discussed in previous chapter). We know that a net force affects the motion, position, and shape of an object. It is useful at this point to look at some particularly interesting and common forces that will provide further applications of Newton’s laws of motion. We have in mind the forces of friction, air or liquid drag, and deformation.
• ## 6: Uniform Circular Motion and Gravitation

This chapter deals with the simplest form of curved motion, uniform circular motion, motion in a circular path at constant speed. Studying this topic illustrates most concepts associated with rotational motion and leads to the study of many new topics we group under the name rotation. Pure rotational motion occurs when points in an object move in circular paths centered on one point. Pure translational motion is motion with no rotation.

• ## 8: Linear Momentum and Collisions

Momentum, like energy, is important because it is conserved. Only a few physical quantities are conserved in nature, and studying them yields fundamental insight into how nature works, as we shall see in our study of momentum.
• ## 9: Statics and Torque

How can we guarantee that a body is in equilibrium and what can we learn from systems that are in equilibrium? There are actually two conditions that must be satisfied to achieve equilibrium. These conditions are the topics of the first two sections of this chapter.
• ## 10: Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum

In physics, angular momentum (rarely, moment of momentum or rotational momentum) is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important quantity in physics because it is a conserved quantity – the angular momentum of a system remains constant unless acted on by an external torque.
• ## 11: Fluid Statics

Fluid statics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies incompressible fluids at rest. It encompasses the study of the conditions under which fluids are at rest in stable equilibrium as opposed to fluid dynamics, the study of fluids in motion.

• ## 13: Temperature, Kinetic Theory, and the Gas Laws

What is heat? How do we define it? How is it related to temperature? What are heat’s effects? How is it related to other forms of energy and to work? We will find that, in spite of the richness of the phenomena, there is a small set of underlying physical principles that unite the subjects and tie them to other fields.
• ## 14: Heat and Heat Transfer Methods

Energy can exist in many forms and heat is one of the most intriguing. Heat is often hidden, as it only exists when in transit, and is transferred by a number of distinctly different methods. Heat transfer touches every aspect of our lives and helps us understand how the universe functions. It explains the chill we feel on a clear breezy night, or why Earth’s core has yet to cool.

• ## 17: Physics of Hearing

Such a wave is the physical phenomenon we call sound. Its perception is hearing. Both the physical phenomenon and its perception are interesting and will be considered in this text. We shall explore both sound and hearing; they are related, but are not the same thing. We will also explore the many practical uses of sound waves, such as in medical imaging.
• ## 18: Electric Charge and Electric Field

This chapter begins the study of electromagnetic phenomena at a fundamental level. The next several chapters will cover static electricity, moving electricity, and magnetism—collectively known as electromagnetism. In this chapter, we begin with the study of electric phenomena due to charges that are at least temporarily stationary, called electrostatics, or static electricity.

• ## 21: Circuits, Bioelectricity, and DC Instruments

This collection of modules takes the topic of electric circuits a step beyond simple circuits. When the circuit is purely resistive, everything in this module applies to both DC and AC. Matters become more complex when capacitance is involved. We do consider what happens when capacitors are connected to DC voltage sources, but the interaction of capacitors and other nonresistive devices with AC is left for a later chapter.
• ## 22: Magnetism

Magnetism is a class of physical phenomena that are mediated by magnetic fields. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, which acts on other currents and magnetic moments. Every material is influenced to some extent by a magnetic field.
• ## 23: Electromagnetic Induction, AC Circuits, and Electrical Technologies

Joseph Henry demonstrated that magnetic fields can produce currents. The basic process of generating emfs (electromotive force) and, hence, currents with magnetic fields is known as induction; this process is also called magnetic induction to distinguish it from charging by induction, which utilizes the Coulomb force.
• ## 24: Electromagnetic Waves

It is worth noting at the outset that the general phenomenon of electromagnetic waves was predicted by theory before it was realized that light is a form of electromagnetic wave. The prediction was made by James Clerk Maxwell in the mid-19th century when he formulated a single theory combining all the electric and magnetic effects known by scientists at that time. “Electromagnetic waves” was the name he gave to the phenomena his theory predicted.
• ## 25: Geometric Optics

When light interacts with an object that is several times as large as the light’s wavelength, its observable behavior is like that of a ray; it does not prominently display its wave characteristics. We call this part of optics “geometric optics.” This chapter will concentrate on such situations. When light interacts with smaller objects, it has very prominent wave characteristics, such as constructive and destructive interference. "Wave Optics" will concentrate on such situations.
• ## 26: Vision and Optical Instruments

It is through optics and imaging that physics enables advancement in major areas of biosciences. This chapter illustrates the enabling nature of physics through an understanding of how a human eye is able to see and how we are able to use optical instruments to see beyond what is possible with the naked eye. It is convenient to categorize these instruments on the basis of geometric optics and wave Optics.

• ## 28: Special Relativity

Modern relativity is divided into two parts. Special relativity deals with observers who are moving at constant velocity. General relativity deals with observers who are undergoing acceleration. Einstein is famous because his theories of relativity made revolutionary predictions. Most importantly, his theories have been verified to great precision in a vast range of experiments, altering forever our concept of space and time.

• ## 30: Atomic Physics

Atomic physics studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus and is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and the processes by which these arrangements change. This comprises ions, neutral atoms and, unless otherwise stated, it can be assumed that the term atom includes ions.

• ## 32: Medical Applications of Nuclear Physics

Not only has nuclear physics revealed secrets of nature, it has an inevitable impact based on its applications, as they are intertwined with human values. Because of its potential for alleviation of suffering, and its power as an ultimate destructor of life, nuclear physics is often viewed with ambivalence. But it provides perhaps the best example that applications can be good or evil, while knowledge itself is neither.
• ## 33: Particle Physics

Particle physics (or high energy physics) studies the nature of the particles that constitute matter (particles with mass) and radiation (massless particles). Although the word "particle" can refer to various types of very small objects (e.g., protons, gas particles, or even household dust), "particle physics" usually investigates the irreducibly smallest detectable particles and the irreducibly fundamental force fields necessary to explain them.