Fundamentals of Physics
Fundamentals of Physics is a calculus-based physics textbook by David Halliday, Robert Resnick, and Jearl Walker. The textbook is currently in its eleventh edition (published 2018). The current version is a revised version of the original 1960 textbook Physics for Students of Science and Engineering by Halliday and Resnick, which was published in two parts (Part I containing Chapters 1-25 and covering mechanics and thermodynamics; Part II containing Chapters 26-48 and covering electromagnetism, optics, and introducing quantum physics). A 1966 revision of the first edition of Part I changed the title of the textbook to Physics.[1] It is widely used in colleges as part of the undergraduate physics courses, and has been well known to science and engineering students for decades as "the gold standard" of freshman-level physics texts. In 2002, the American Physical Society named the work the most outstanding introductory physics text of the 20th century.
Authors | David Halliday, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker, Farrell Edwards, John J. Merrill |
---|---|
Country | United States of America |
Language | American English |
Subject | Physics |
Genre | Textbook |
Published | 1960 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) |
Media type | Print (hardcover) |
The first edition of the book to bear the title Fundamentals of Physics, first published in 1970, was revised from the original text by Farrell Edwards and John J. Merrill.[2] Walker has been the revising author since 1990.[3] In the more recent editions of the textbook, beginning with the fifth edition,[4] Walker has included "checkpoint" questions. These are conceptual ranking-task questions that help the student before embarking on numerical calculations.
The textbook covers most of the basic topics in physics:
- Mechanics
- Waves
- Thermodynamics
- Electromagnetism
- Optics
- Special Relativity
The extended edition also contains introductions to topics such as quantum mechanics, atomic theory, solid-state physics, nuclear physics and cosmology. A solutions manual and a study guide are also available.[5]
See also
References
- Resnick & Halliday, Physics, Part I, rev. ed. (New York, London, and Sydney: John Wiley & Sons, 1966), pp. v-vi, and Resnick & Halliday, Physics for Students of Science and Engineering, Part II, 2nd ed. (New York and London: John Wiley & Sons, 1962), pp. xi-xv.
- Publications by John J. Merill, Brigham Young University
- Jearl D Walker, Profile page at CSU Ohio.
- Amato, Joseph (December 1996). "The introductory calculus-based physics textbook". Physics Today. 49 (12): 46–51. Bibcode:1996PhT....49l..46A. doi:10.1063/1.881581.
- Kim, Eunsook; Pak, Sung-Jae (2002). "Students do not overcome conceptual difficulties after solving 1000 traditional problems". American Journal of Physics. 70 (7): 759–765. Bibcode:2002AmJPh..70..759K. doi:10.1119/1.1484151.