physics course

Topics Your Textbook Must Cover
The chapter numbers between editions of Serway’s Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Modern Physics, and also other textbooks, will not match. Be sure that your book contains the topics you will need for this course.
The topics your textbook will need for this course are:

Solids and Fluids

Pressure
Variation of Pressure with Depth
Pressure Measurements
Buoyant Forces and Archimede’s Principle
Fluids in Motion
Fluid Dynamics
Bernoulli’s Equation

Vibrations and Waves

Properties of Waves
Propagation of a Disturbance
Analysis Model: Traveling Waves
Waves on a String
The Speed of Waves on a String
Reflection and Transmission

Sound Waves

Pressure Variations in Sound Waves
Speed of Sound Waves
Intensity of Periodic Sound Waves
The Doppler Effect

Wave Interference

Analysis Model: Waves in Interference
Standing Waves
Analysis Model: Waves under Boundary Conditions
Resonance
Standing Waves in Air Columns
Beats: Interference in Time

Temperature and Thermal Expansion

Temperature and the Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
Thermometers and the Celsius Temperature Scale
The Constant-Volume Gas Thermometer and the Absolute Temperature Scale
Thermal Expansion of Solids and Liquids
Macroscopic Description of an Ideal Gas

Energy in Thermal Processes

Heat and Internal Energy
Specific Heat and Calorimetry
Latent Heat
Energy Transfer Mechanisms in Thermal Processes

The Laws of Thermodynamics

Work and Heat in Thermodynamic Processes
The First Law of Thermodynamics
Some Applications of the First Law of Thermodynamics
Molecular Model of an Ideal Gas
Molar Specific Heat of an Ideal Gas
Adiabatic Processes for an Ideal Gas
Heat Engines and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Heat Pumps and Refrigerators
Reversible and Irreversible Processes
The Carnot Engine
Gasoline and Diesel Engines
Entropy
Changes in Entropy for Thermodynamic Systems
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics

Optics

The Nature of Light
Reflection and Refraction
Measurements of the Speed of Light
The Ray Approximation in Ray Optics
Analysis Model: Wave under Reflection
Analysis Model: Wave under Refraction
Huygen’s Principle
Dispersion
Total Internal Reflection

Mirrors and Lenses

Images Formed by Flat Mirrors
Images Formed by Spherical Mirrors
Images Formed by Refraction
Images Formed by Thin Lenses
Lens Aberrations
The Camera
The Eye
The Simple Magnifier
The Compound Microscope
The Telescope

Wave Optics

Young’s Double-Slit Experiment
Analysis Model: Waves in Interference
Change of Phase Due to Reflection
Interference in Thin Films
Introduction to Diffraction Patterns
Diffraction Patterns from Narrow Slits
Resolution of Single-Slit and Circular Aperatures
The Diffraction Grating
Polarization of Light Waves

Relativity

Special Relativity
The Principle of Galilean Relativity
The Michelson-Morley Experiment
Einstein’s Principle of Relativity
Consequences of the Special Theory of Relativity
The Lorentz Transformation Equations
The Lorentz Velocity Transformation Equations
Relativistic Linear Momentum
Relativistic Energy
The General Theory of Relativity

Quantum Physics

The Photelectric Effect
The Compton Effect
The Nature of Electromagnetic Waves
The Wave Properties of Particles
The Double-Slit Experiment Revisited
The Uncertainty Principle

Atomic Physics

Atomic Spectra of Gases
Early Models of the Atom
Bohr’s Model of the Hydrogen Atom
The Quantum Model of the Hydrogen Atom
The Wave Function for Hydrogen

Nuclear Physics

Some Properties of Nuclei
Nuclear Binding Energy
Nuclear Models
Radioactivity
The Decay Processes
Natural Radioactivity
Nuclear Reactions
Interactions Involving Neutrons
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear Reactors
Nuclear Fusion
Radiation Damage

Course Organization
The course is divided into ten lessons:

Fluids
Waves
Wave Interference
Heat and Work
Heat engines
Optics
Light Interference
Relativity
Quantum Physics
Nuclear Physics

Each lesson contains a study guide, activities and assignments, and a quiz.