Physics : Concepts and Connections
By Igor; Heimbecker, Brian; Bosomworth, Don Nowikow
* Publisher: Nelson Thomson Learning
* Number Of Pages: 720
* Publication Date: 2001
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0772528721
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780772528728
* Binding: Hardcover
GRADE 11 TEXTBOOK
Product Description
The third edition of Physics: Concepts and Connections is expressly for readers who want to better understand the universe and their role in it. Its non-technical language is ideal for readers looking for a basic overview of physics. Topics covered include force, gravity, energy, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. For those with an interest in physics.
From the Publisher
This book approaches physics as a human endeavor, in philosophical and social context. Not a watered-down version of the standard technical texts, this is a true liberal arts physics textbook that connects physics with its cultural aspects and balances coverage of Newtonian and modern physics. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
The third edition of Physics: Concepts and Connections is expressly for readers who want to better understand the universe and their role in it. Its non-technical language is ideal for readers looking for a basic overview of physics. Topics covered include force, gravity, energy, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. For those with an interest in physics.
About the Author
Art Hobson started life in Philadelphia in 1934. His family moved to Manhattan, Kansas, in 1946, where he developed a passion for the trombone and jazz. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas in Denton in 1955, was drafted and served in U.S. Army bands and the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in Europe during 1955-57, and then spent many months in New York City looking for steady employment as a musician. He soon decided that it might be better to switch to a different field.
As a believer in the unity of art and science, Art found it congenial to move from music to physics. In 1964 he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Kansas State University and joined the physics faculty at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he remains. His publications include Concepts in Statistical Mechanics (a research monograph), Physics and Human Affairs (an earlier textbook), The Future of Land-Based Strategic Missiles (an arms control study by a team of physicists, co-authored and co-edited by Art), and numerous papers on theoretical physics, the control and reduction of nuclear weapons, and physics education. He served for nine years as editor of the quarterly newsletter Physics and Society and was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1992 "for numerous contributions in the area of physics and society."
In 1975, Art developed a new kind of physics course for nonscientists, one that connected physics to our society and culture. The course grew in size and popularity, and in 1989 he received the College of Arts and Science's Master Teacher Award for this achievement. This book is an outgrowth of that course.
The previous two editions of this book were dedicated to Art's two children, whom he raised as a single father. He is delighted to have married Marie Riley, to whom this edition is dedicated, in 1997. Although he retired in 1999, he still pedals his bicycle to the university every day and is as over-involved as ever. He and Marie love to travel and often combine business trips to foreign lands with vacations. His latest hobby is learning German. He loves skiing, the theater, concerts, the beach, reading, writing, and bicycling. Although he's lost his trombone "chops," he values his arts background, remains an avid lover of jazz, and even pounds out an occasional tune on the piano.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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 rather than 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 ahobson@uark.edu!
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 e...
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