Modern Introductory Physics (Undergraduate Texts in Contemporary Physics)

This novel text structures a one-semester course of introductory physics around the question: "Why do we believe in atoms and their properties?" After a brief review of the basic terminology of mechanics, the book begins by introducing the atoms of chemistry. It then turns to the physicists hard-sphere atoms: ideal gases, pressure, temperature, viscosity. The first hint of subatomic structure comes from the discovery of the electron, and the discussion thus turns to electricity, magnetism, light, and x- rays. This leads in turn to waves and relativity, and the book concludes with modern insights into the atom: photons radioactivity, the particle/wave duality, quantum mechanics, the Bohr model, and closes the circle back to the chemists atom with Moseleys law and the periodic table. A large number of problems, some of them based on computer spreadsheets, as well as laboratory exercises serve to clarify students' understanding.