Concepts of Modern Physics

• Publisher:   McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
• Number Of Pages:   560
• Publication Date:   2002-03-08
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0072448482
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780072448481

Modern Physics is the most up-to-date, accessible presentation of modern physics available. The book is intended to be used in a one-semester course covering modern physics for students who have already had basic physics and calculus courses. The balance of the book leans more toward ideas than toward experimental methods and practical applications because the beginning student is better served by a conceptual framework than by a mass of details.

The sequence of topics follows a logical, rather than strictly historical, order. Relativity and quantum ideas are considered first to provide a framework for understanding the physics of atoms and nuclei. The theory of the atom is then developed, and followed by a discussion of the properties of aggregates of atoms, which includes a look at statistical mechanics. Finally atomic nuclei and elementary particles are examined.

The book is not very good with the equations in it. It needs to be more consistant with variable letter names. Some equations in the proofs cannot be used to answer end of chapter questions. This gets confusing.

...While understanding can come from this book, the numerous typos distract, confuse, and degrade the quality of it. Examples of this include the following: on page 7, the definitions for t_0 and t should be switched (although it's all relative); on pages 39, 40, and 41, there are occasions where a prime ' is either lacking or misplaced; on page 43, a variable dz' should be replaced by dx'. Page 137, example 4.5 (b) gives contradictory exponents. The correct exponents are ^2 throughout. The answer is also wrong! (should be 2.47x10^15 Hz)
These are just a few occasions that I have noticed and have spent hours struggling with.

I did not think that this book offered too good of explanations. After taking the course with this book accompanying it, I did not feel that I went away with anything except for more confusion toward physics. If you are thinking about purchasing this book, you will probably want to try a different text.

It points out most of the important concepts clearly. It is an interesting book if you have proper foundation of Maths. However, I prefer the layout and format of its first edition. It achieved good balance between maths and physics.

Pick another book like Serway's, or Tipler's, or even Modern Atomic and Nuclear Physics, for a legitimate introduction to this subject. Beiser's lazy treatment of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and the Bohr atom amounts to little more than throwing out a few formulas and examples. The same goes for the transformations in special relativity - Tipler's treatment is superior. Even the Schaum's book in modern physics is better on this topic. His treatment of quantum mechanics was obviously meant to be ignored - hence the leaving out of important conceptual and explanatory material that, say, Modern Atomic and Nuclear Physics puts in. Overall, it is worthless in comparison to the previously mentioned books.

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