An essential part of studying to become a physical scientist or engineer is learning how to solve problems. This book contains over 200 appropriate physics problems with hints and full solutions. The author demonstrates how to break down a problem into its essential components, and how to chart a course through them to a solution. With problem-solving skills being essential for any physical scientist or engineer, this book will be invaluable to potential and current undergraduates seeking a career in these fields. The book is divided into three parts: questions, hints and solutions. The questions section is subdivided into 15 chapters, each centred on a different area of physics, from elementary particles, through classical physics, to cosmology. The second section provides brief hints, whilst the third sets out full and explicit solutions to each problem. Most begin with thoughts that students might have after reading a problem, allowing the reader to understand which questions they should be asking themselves when faced with unfamiliar situations.
- Contains detailed model solutions to ensure readers not only understand the physics principles involved, but also how to apply them
- In order to develop the ability to pick out only relevant information, some problems offer unneeded data
- Students will learn to introduce suitable working variables and to use their general knowledge to help them find a solution, given that some problems appear to contain too little information
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Reviews & endorsements
'Useful to both students and teachers of physics at introductory levels, this book is a compendium of some 200 problems with some questions on physical concepts … Students preparing for entrance examinations or teachers looking for interesting questions will find this compendium useful and enjoyable.' N. Sadanand, Choice
'I am personally convinced since some time that this is just the right way to train motivated students … I decided to prove the effectiveness of [this approach] … once a week I gave two or three problems from Riley's book to selected final years college students … Some problems were solved (not always closely following the solution presented in the book) with no hint supplied … Some of them (few) effectively required the hint supplied in the second part of the book … Finally, few problems were left unsolved. I gave the students the solution proposed in the third part of the book, without any explanation or presentation on my part … Good students interested in becoming scientific innovators and developers of the future (as well as good teachers looking to the future) wanted.' Salvatore Esposito, Contemporary Physics
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Product details
- Date Published: January 2019
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781108701303
- length: 346 pages
- dimensions: 245 x 173 x 16 mm
- weight: 0.7kg
- contains: 190 b/w illus.
- availability: In stock
Table of Contents
Preface
How to use this book
1. Dimensions
2. Statics
3. Dynamics
4. Rotation
5. Gravity
6. SHM
7. Waves
8. Solids and liquids
9. Electrical circuits
10. Electrostatics
11. Magnetic fields
12. Electromagnetism
13. Heat transfer
14. Gases
15. Particles and atoms
Hints
Solutions
Physical constants.
Look Inside
Author
Ken Riley, Clare College, Cambridge
Ken Riley is a retired Lecturer in Physics at the University of Cambridge Cavendish Laboratory. He is also a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, where he was both the Senior Tutor and Admissions Tutor, and taught physics and mathematics for over forty-five years. He has served on many committees and panels concerned with the teaching and examining of these subjects at all levels of tertiary and university education. His research was centred on nuclear physics at Harwell and then elementary particle physics at Brookhaven, New York, the Rutherford Laboratory and Stanford. He is the lead author of Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering (Cambridge, 3rd edition, 2006), and a joint author of both Foundation Mathematics for the Physical Sciences (Cambridge, 2011) and Essential Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences (Cambridge, 2011). He is a co-author of 200 Puzzling Physics Problems (Cambridge, 2001) and the consultant editor for 200 More Puzzling Physics Problems (Cambridge, 2016).