Physics: Concepts and Connections / Edition 5

by Art Hobson

Overview

Written for the non-science major, this text emphasizes modern physics and the scientific process—and engages students by drawing connections between physics and everyday experience. Hobson takes a conceptual approach, with an appropriate focus on quantitative skills. The Fifth Edition increases coverage of key environmental topics such as global warming and energy, and adds new topics such as momentum. Hobson’s text remains the least expensive textbook available for students taking nonmajors physics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780321661135
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	12/16/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Part 1: Prelude: Of Stars and Atoms
Ch 1: The Way of Science: Experience and Reason
Ch 2: Atoms: The Nature of Things

Part 2: The Newtonian Universe: A Clockwork Kingdom
Ch 3: How Things Move: Galileo Asks the Right Questions
Ch 4: Why Things Move as They Do
Ch 5: Newton’s Universe

Part 3: Transition to the New Physics
Ch 6: Conservation of Energy: You Can’t Get Ahead
Ch 7: Second Law of Thermodynamics: and you Can’t Even Break Even
Ch 8: Light and Electromagnetism
Ch 9: Electromagnetism Radiation and Global Climate Change

Part 4: The Post-Newtonian Universe: The Observer Intrudes
Ch 10: The Special Theory of Relativity
Ch 11: The General Theory of Relativity and the New Cosmology
Ch 12: The Quantum Idea
Ch 13: The Quantum Universe

Part 5: Within the Atom: Fire of the Nucleus, Fire of the Sun
Ch 14: The Nucleus and Radioactivity: An New Force
Ch 15: Fusion and Fission: and a New Energy
Ch 16: The Energy Challenge
Ch 17: Quantum Fields: Relativity Meets the Quantum

Introduction

This book is for all those who desire to better understand the universe and their role in it, and especially for those who want to make a difference in our planet's future. It is written in nontechnical language for students whose careers will probably lie outside the sciences, but it is also for scientists and others striving to understand nature's ways and her connections to our lives. Thus, this is not a watered-down version of the standard physics textbooks for scientists. It presents physics as a human endeavor in its full philosophical and social context.

Many groups' have recommended new approaches to science education and science literacy. This book reflects these recommendations in several ways:

• Scientific literacy. This book addresses the values, philosophical meaning, and societal impact of science, and stresses the scientific approach to knowledge.
• Modern view of the universe. Fully half of this book is devoted to relativity, quantum theory, nuclear physics, quantum fields, and other post-Newtonian and contemporary topics.
• Societal connections. This book includes such physics-related societal topics as ozone depletion, global warming, technological risk, energy resources, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and pseudoscience.
• Interactive learning. Research in physics education has shown the importance of interactive engagement in student learning. This book engages students through frequent quick "Concept Checks" within each chapter, "How Do We Know?" subsections, a choice of topics that is relevant to student needs and interests, and a style that focuses on understanding ratherthan technicalities.
• A conceptual approach, with appropriate quantitative skills. Physics education research has shown the importance of explicitly focusing on the meaning of physics. For nonscientists, there is no need to learn algebra-based problem-solving techniques. On the other hand, quantitative measurement and tools such as graphs, probabilities, estimates, and powers of 10 are important for everyone. Thus the text is conceptual and numerate, but nonalgebraic. Algebra-based problems are, however, included in most chapters for those classes in which they are appropriate.
• Less is more. This book presents most of the great ideas of physics, but omits many "classical" topics normally included in introductory courses. Many studies have found that it is a mistake to present all of the traditional topics in one course. Depth is preferable to encyclopedic breadth, especially if the course is to move beyond nineteenth-century physics.
• Unifying themes. Four recurrent story lines, discussed below, unify the presentation and represent the book's pedagogical goals.

The first and foremost story line is how we know in science. Science is much more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of knowing—a process for proposing, disposing, testing, and refining ideas. The notion that knowledge comes from experience and is subject to testing by observation and rational thought is science's most basic value—and probably its most important benefit. Thus "how do we know" dominates Chapter 1 and is the book's constant refrain.

The second theme is the significance of post-Newtonian physics. "Modern" physics (physics since 1900) reveals a universe of fields and energy structured according to relativity and quantum theory, a universe vastly different from older theories of indestructible particles in precise and predictable motion. Our culture still lives in the Newtonian age, while science has moved far beyond it. So it is important, especially for liberal-arts students, to treat modern physics in depth.

Energy, the book's central physical concept, forms the third recurrent theme. From the fall of a pebble, to nuclear processes, to the evolution of the universe, the principles of energy provide a wonderfully unified view of natural processes. Furthermore, many science-related societal issues are connected with uses and misuses of energy. I hope that readers will develop a habit of viewing all processes as transformations of energy and will perceive, in those processes, the great laws of energy.

The final theme is the social context of physics. The power conferred by science demands great responsibility from each of us including you, dear reader. Science is too important to be left to the scientists. This is why I have written this book. It is written for you, the teachers, poets, politicians, business people, and others who must help pull us through the challenges of the scientific age. Each societal topic is not merely added on, but is instead integrated by presenting it right after the relevant physics. For example, global warming appears in Chapter 9 right after electromagnetic radiation and following earlier prerequisite discussions of atoms (Chapter 2), energy (Chapter 6), and light (Chapter 8).

You will find many learning aids in every chapter:

• Marginal quotations provide a range of views to lend perspective and depth. Please don't assume that I agree, or that the scientific community agrees, with each and every quotation!
• Footnotes provide additional details for readers who want them. It is difficult to write accurately while not burdening students with excessive details. Footnotes are one way to handle such situations.
• Concept Checks probe the reader's understanding about a dozen times in each chapter. Readers should respond to each of these before checking the answer at the end of the chapter. Instructors might want to use these questions interactively in the classroom.
• How Do We Know? subsections appear regularly. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that scientists have evidence for their conclusions.
• Making estimates is one skill that this book seeks to develop. Examples and exercises bearing this title appear frequently.
• Summaries of Ideas and Terms follow each chapter. They summarize and clarify the main concepts and should be helpful when studying for exams.
• Review Questions and Conceptual Exercises follow each chapter and are organized by sections within the chapter. Review Questions go over the main points and can be answered by glancing through the appropriate section. Most Conceptual Exercises are qualitative, while some are numerical but nonalgebraic. Designed to exercise the mind the way that jogging exercises the body, they require original thought. Answers to the odd-numbered exercises are in the back of the book.
• Problems requiring algebraic manipulation follow all but the first two chapters. These could be used in courses in which algebra is appropriate. Answers to the odd-numbered problems are in the back of the book.
• Critical Thinking Questions, a few of them, follow most chapters. These are meant to stimulate thinking about values and other issues and have no single correct answer. They can be used for class discussion, essays, or individual thought.
• Hands-on Physics projects, a few of them, follow most chapters. There is nothing like hands-on experience to bring out the experimental nature of science. These could be done at home, in a laboratory, or as demonstrations.

Please send your comments and suggestions to me at [e-mail]!

WHAT'S NEW IN THIS EDITION?

The pedagogical material is revised and greatly expanded. The number of Conceptual Exercises is expanded by 44%, nonalgebraic numerical questions are included in the Conceptual Exercises rather than in the Problems, and algebra-based Problems have been added to all but the first two chapters. Within each chapter, instead of the previous open-ended "Dialogue" questions there is now a more focused set of "Concept Checks" in multiple-choice format with answers provided at the end of the chapter. Their purpose is to encourage readers to interact with the text, to check student learning, and to reveal misconceptions.

Because this book emphasizes modern and contemporary developments, updating is essential. The wonderful breakthroughs in high-energy physics and astrophysics that define this as the "golden age of cosmology" are incorporated. There are new (but optional) sections titled "The latest news from the edge of the universe" (latest observations of the cosmic background radiation, evidence for a flat universe, dark matter, dark energy, and an accelerating universe), "Quantum gravity" (the Planck scale, string theory), and "Connecting quarks with the cosmos" (the inflationary universe, emergence of the four forces as phase changes in the early universe, theoretical and observational history of the universe beginning at the Planck time). There are also discussions of neutrino oscillations, neutrino masses, Higgs fields, and the origin of mass. The discussions of energy-mass equivalence, and of the general-relativistic geometry of the universe, have been refined. Chapter 12, on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, includes new information about extra-solar planets, radio-frequency "listening" projects, and other topics. In Chapter 14, discussions of the indeterminacy principle and nonlocality have been refined, and a discussion of quantum computing has been added.

Considerable updating of physics-related societal topics was needed. Chapter 7 contains new material on energy-efficient automobiles including electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, fuel cells, hydrogen fuel, and efficiency ratings. Chapter 9 updates the ozone depletion issue, and updates and expands global warming to reflect the massive new data and the evolving scientific view of this critical to c. Chapter 17, on the energy future, needed a thorough updating of facts and figures (especially tables and graphs), new topics such as the conditions for "breakeven" in a fusion reactor, "decarbonization" of the energy economy, and the hydrogen energy economy, also an updating of the nuclear waste issue, and new information on wind and other renewable energies.

In other topics, the material on Newton's second law is now less wordy and more direct. There is new information about massive black holes. And there are innumerable smaller changes throughout every chapter to reflect the many reviewer comments, student comments, and my own experience since the second edition went to press.

A WORD TO THE INSTRUCTOR

This book uses a conceptual approach. Physics education research shows that all students, including science students, grasp physics better if they conceptualize before they calculate. Because most nonscience students are deterred by a mathematical presentation, a conceptual approach is especially appropriate for them. See the Instructor's Manual for further discussion of the conceptual approach.

This book aims to connect physics with its full cultural context. For this, it is essential to integrate the science with the context. Thus, I have not isolated societal issues, but instead placed them next to the pure physics. This leads to some unfamiliar juxtapositions, such as ozone depletion and global warming in a chapter that includes electromagnetic radiation. These choices are guided by a desire to present societal topics early while still presenting all the needed physics background prior to each societal topic. For example, extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) follows relativity but precedes quantum theory, because relativity is needed to discuss SETI but quantum theory is not.

For flexibility, the book is purposely too long for one semester. I usually omit the equivalent of about three chapters. Chapters and sections that may be omitted without seriously affecting the remaining material are indicated with asterisks in the Contents. With a little care, many other omissions are possible. The flow chart preceding this Preface shows connections between topics and suggests alternative course structures. Chapter 1, on the scientific approach to knowledge, is deletable, because this topic recurs throughout the book. But if it is skipped, students should read its first section as an introduction to the book.

Perhaps you want your course to have a modern focus, or a societal focus, or perhaps you want to cover far less material. For a modern focus, omit Chapter 1, the starred (with asterisks in the Contents) sections in Chapters 3-7, the starred sections devoted to societal topics, Chapter 17, and perhaps Chapter 12. Omitting the starred sections in Chapters 3-7 reduces Newtonian mechanics to an amount that can be covered comfortably in eight to ten lectures. For a societal focus, omit Chapters 1,13,14,18, and the starred sections of Chapter 11. There are many options for a course covering less material, such as covering only Chapters 2 through 9. Consult the Instructor's Manual for further alternative course designs.

Do get a free copy of the Instructor's Manual. It contains, besides the material that you expect in an instructor's manual, general teaching tips, class activities, a handout on "How to Succeed in Physics," alternate course designs, objectives for each chapter, specific, teaching tips for each chapter, and an annotated bibliography for each chapter.

Editorial Reviews

A physics textbook explicitly designed for liberal arts students rather than merely watered down from a standard version. A cultural rather than technical treatment of the discipline, with more cultural sophistication than found in the science version. Presents physics as a human endeavor in its full philosophical and social context. Helps fulfill recommendations by several professional bodies for new approaches to teaching science. Revised from the 1995 with updates, corrections, tightening of some prose, and other minor changes. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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