# UCD: Physics 9B – Waves, Sound, Optics, Thermodynamics, and Fluids


• Front Matter
• 1: Waves
Energy can be transported from one position in space to another without any matter being transported between those two positions, through a phenomenon known as a wave.
• 2: Sound
Sound is a wave phenomenon that is quite different from the simple disturbance-on-string model we have discussed to this point.  Still, while its physical properties may be different, its wave nature allows us to use all the same tools that we have employed already.
• 3: Physical Optics
We now employ our knowledge of wave mechanics to the phenomenon of light.  Once again we will find that while it comes from a very different source from other waves we have studied, and while it has some unique properties we have not seen before, our knowledge of waves still goes a long way.
• 4: Geometrical Optics
No study of light is complete without explaining how what we see compares to what is actually sending us light.  It turns out that such an explanation is rather difficult in the context of our wave model, so we will employ a trick that allows us to temporarily forget light's wave nature, and do such calculations using pure geometry.
• 5: Fundamentals of Thermodynamics
In classical mechanics, we found that we needed to make a link between the macroscopic and microscopic realms in order to come up with some reasonable explanation for the phenomena of friction and drag.  We will now extend this exploration, looking more closely at how energy is transferred without work, the role of temperature, and the rules that apply to this strange mixture of macro/micro models.
• 6: Applications of Thermodynamics
Here we explore applications of thermodynamics, including what limitations the laws of thermodynamics impose on these applications.
• 7: Fluid Mechanics
The tools of classical mechanics also apply to fluids, but application of these tools is a bit trickier.  Here we study both statics and dynamics of fluid mechanics.
• Back Matter

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