College Physics

Randy Knight has taught introductory physics for 32 years at Ohio State University and California Polytechnic University, where he is Professor Emeritus of Physics. Randy received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California–Berkeley. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before joining the faculty at Ohio State University. It was at Ohio State, under the mentorship of Professor Leonard Jossem, that he began to learn about the research in physics education that, many years later, led to Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching, Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach, and now to this book. Randy’s research interests are in the fields of lasers, spectroscopy, and environmental science. When he’s not in front of a computer, you can find Randy hiking, sea kayaking, playing the piano, or spending time with his wife Sally and their six cats.    Brian Jones has won several teaching awards at Colorado State University during his 25 years teaching in the Department of Physics. His teaching focus in recent years has been the College Physics class, including writing problems for the MCAT exam and helping students review for this test. In 2011, Brian was awarded the Robert A. Millikan Medal of the American Association of Physics Teachers for his work as director of the Little Shop of Physics, a hands-on science outreach program. He is actively exploring the effectiveness of methods of informal science education and how to extend these lessons to the college classroom. Brian has been invited to give workshops on techniques of science instruction throughout the United States and in Belize, Chile, Ethiopia, Azerbaijan, Mexico, and Slovenia. Brian and his wife Carol have dozens of fruit trees and bushes in their yard, including an apple tree that was propagated from a tree in Isaac Newton’s garden.   Stuart Field has been interested in science and technology his whole life. While in school he built telescopes, electronic circuits, and computers. After attending Stanford University, he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, where he studied the properties of materials at ultralow temperatures. After completing a postdoctoral position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he held a faculty position at the University of Michigan. Currently at Colorado State University, Stuart teaches a variety of physics courses, including algebra-based introductory physics, and was an early and enthusiastic adopter of Knight’s Physics for Scientists and Engineers. Stuart maintains an active research program in the area of superconductivity. Stuart enjoys Colorado's great outdoors, where he is an avid mountain biker; he also plays in local ice hockey leagues.  

I.  FORCE AND MOTION
1. Representing Motion    
2. Motion in One Dimension   
3. Vectors and Motion in Two Dimensions  
4. Forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion 
5. Applying Newton’s Laws   
6. Circular Motion, Orbits, and Gravity  
7. Rotational Motion   
8. Equilibrium and Elasticity     
II. CONSERVATION LAWS
9. Momentum
10. Energy and Work   
11. Using Energy   
III. PROPERTIES OF MATTER
12. Thermal Properties of Matter
13. Fluids   
IV. OSCILLATIONS AND WAVES
14. Oscillations
15. Traveling Waves and Sound   
16. Superposition and Standing Waves
V. OPTICS  
17. Wave Optics
18. Ray Optics
19. Optical Instruments
VI. ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM   
20. Electric Fields and Forces   
21. Electrical Potential  
22. Current and Resistance
23. Circuits
24. Magnetic Fields and Forces   
25. Electromagnetic Induction and Electromagnetic Waves 
26. AC Electricity  
VII. MODERN PHYSICS
27. Relativity
28. Quantum Physics
29. Atoms and Molecules   
30. Nuclear Physics