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<p>Preface to third edition xv</p> <p><b>1 Understanding the physical universe 1</b></p> <p>1.1 The programme of physics 1</p> <p>1.2 The building blocks of matter 2</p> <p>1.3 Matter in bulk 4</p> <p>1.4 The fundamental interactions 5</p> <p>1.5 Exploring the physical universe: the scientific method 5</p> <p>1.6 The role of physics; its scope and applications 7</p> <p><b>2 Using mathematical tools in physics 9</b></p> <p>2.1 Applying the scientific method 9</p> <p>2.2 The use of variables to represent displacement and time 9</p> <p>2.3 Representation of data 10</p> <p>2.4 The use of differentiation in analysis: velocity and acceleration in linear motion 13</p> <p>2.5 The use of integration in analysis 16</p> <p>2.6 Maximum and minimum values of physical variables: general linear motion 21</p> <p>2.7 Angular motion: the radian 22</p> <p>2.8 The role of mathematics in physics 24</p> <p>Worked examples 25</p> <p>Chapter 2 problems (up.ucc.ie/2/) 27</p> <p><b>3 The causes of motion: dynamics 29</b></p> <p>3.1 The concept of force 29</p> <p>3.2 The First law of Dynamics (Newton's first law) 30</p> <p>3.3 The fundamental dynamical principle (Newton's second law) 31</p> <p>3.4 Systems of units: SI 33</p> <p>3.5 Time dependent forces: oscillatory motion 37</p> <p>3.6 Simple harmonic motion 39</p> <p>3.7 Mechanical work and energy 42</p> <p>3.8 Plots of potential energy functions 45</p> <p>3.9 Power 46</p> <p>3.10 Energy in simple harmonic motion 47</p> <p>3.11 Dissipative forces: damped harmonic motion 48</p> <p>3.11.1 Trial solution technique for solving the damped harmonic motion equation (up.ucc.ie/3/11/1/) 50</p> <p>3.12 Forced oscillations (up.ucc.ie/3/12/) 51</p> <p>3.13 Non-linear dynamics: chaos (up.ucc.ie/3/13/) 52</p> <p>3.14 Phase space representation of dynamical systems (up.ucc.ie/3/14/) 52</p> <p>Worked examples 52</p> <p>Chapter 3 problems (up.ucc.ie/3/) 56</p> <p><b>4 Motion in two and three dimensions 57</b></p> <p>4.1 Vector physical quantities 57</p> <p>4.2 Vector algebra 58</p> <p>4.3 Velocity and acceleration vectors 62</p> <p>4.4 Force as a vector quantity: vector form of the laws of dynamics 63</p> <p>4.5 Constraint forces 64</p> <p>4.6 Friction 66</p> <p>4.7 Motion in a circle: centripetal force 68</p> <p>4.8 Motion in a circle at constant speed 69</p> <p>4.9 Tangential and radial components of acceleration 71</p> <p>4.10 Hybrid motion: the simple pendulum 71</p> <p>4.10.1 Large angle corrections for the simple pendulum (up.ucc.ie/4/10/1/) 72</p> <p>4.11 Angular quantities as vector: the cross product 72</p> <p>Worked examples 75</p> <p>Chapter 4 problems (up.ucc.ie/4/) 78</p> <p><b>5 Force fields 79</b></p> <p>5.1 Newton's law of universal gravitation 79</p> <p>5.2 Force fields 80</p> <p>5.3 The concept of flux 81</p> <p>5.4 Gauss's law for gravitation 82</p> <p>5.5 Applications of Gauss's law 84</p> <p>5.6 Motion in a constant uniform field: projectiles 86</p> <p>5.7 Mechanical work and energy 88</p> <p>5.8 Power 93</p> <p>5.9 Energy in a constant uniform field 94</p> <p>5.10 Energy in an inverse square law field 94</p> <p>5.11 Moment of a force: angular momentum 97</p> <p>5.12 Planetary motion: circular orbits 98</p> <p>5.13 Planetary motion: elliptical orbits and Kepler's laws 99</p> <p>5.13.1 Conservation of the Runge-Lens vector (up.ucc.ie/5/13/1/) 100</p> <p>Worked examples 101</p> <p>Chapter 5 problems (up.ucc.ie/5/) 104</p> <p><b>6 Many-body interactions 105</b></p> <p>6.1 Newton's third law 105</p> <p>6.2 The principle of conservation of momentum 108</p> <p>6.3 Mechanical energy of systems of particles 109</p> <p>6.4 Particle decay 110</p> <p>6.5 Particle collisions 111</p> <p>6.6 The centre of mass of a system of particles 115</p> <p>6.7 The two-body problem: reduced mass 116</p> <p>6.8 Angular momentum of a system of particles 119</p> <p>6.9 Conservation principles in physics 120</p> <p>Worked examples 121</p> <p>Chapter 6 problems (up.ucc.ie/6/) 125</p> <p><b>7 Rigid body dynamics 127</b></p> <p>7.1 Rigid bodies 127</p> <p>7.2 Rigid bodies in equilibrium: statics 128</p> <p>7.3 Torque 129</p> <p>7.4 Dynamics of rigid bodies 130</p> <p>7.5 Measurement of torque: the torsion balance 131</p> <p>7.6 Rotation of a rigid body about a fixed axis: moment of inertia 132</p> <p>7.7 Calculation of moments of inertia: the parallel axis theorem 133</p> <p>7.8 Conservation of angular momentum of rigid bodies 135</p> <p>7.9 Conservation of mechanical energy in rigid body systems 136</p> <p>7.10 Work done by a torque: torsional oscillations: rotational power 138</p> <p>7.11 Gyroscopic motion 140</p> <p>7.11.1 Precessional angular velocity of a top (up.ucc.ie/7/11/1/) 141</p> <p>7.12 Summary: connection between rotational and translational motions 141</p> <p>Worked examples 141</p> <p>Chapter 7 problems (up.ucc.ie/7/) 144</p> <p><b>8 Relative motion 145</b></p> <p>8.1 Applicability of Newton's laws of motion: inertial reference frames 145</p> <p>8.2 The Galilean transformation 146</p> <p>8.3 The CM (centre-of-mass) reference frame 149</p> <p>8.4 Example of a non-inertial frame: centrifugal force 153</p> <p>8.5 Motion in a rotating frame: the Coriolis force 155</p> <p>8.6 The Foucault pendulum 158</p> <p>8.6.1 Precession of a Foucault pendulum (up.ucc.ie/8/6/1/) 158</p> <p>8.7 Practical criteria for inertial frames: the local view 158</p> <p>Worked examples 159</p> <p>Chapter 8 problems (up.ucc.ie/8/) 163</p> <p><b>9 Special relativity 165</b></p> <p>9.1 The velocity of light 165</p> <p>9.1.1 The Michelson-Morley experiment (up.ucc.ie/9/1/1/) 165</p> <p>9.2 The principle of relativity 166</p> <p>9.3 Consequences of the principle of relativity 166</p> <p>9.4 The Lorentz transformation 168</p> <p>9.5 The Fitzgerald–Lorentz contraction 171</p> <p>9.6 Time dilation 172</p> <p>9.7 Paradoxes in special relativity 173</p> <p>9.7.1 Simultaneity: quantitative analysis of the twin paradox (up.ucc.ie/9/7/1/) 174</p> <p>9.8 Relativistic transformation of velocity 174</p> <p>9.9 Momentum in relativistic mechanics 176</p> <p>9.10 Four-vectors: the energy–momentum 4-vector 177</p> <p>9.11 Energy–momentum transformations: relativistic energy conservation 179</p> <p>9.11.1 The force transformations (up.ucc.ie/9/11/1/) 180</p> <p>9.12 Relativistic energy: mass–energy equivalence 180</p> <p>9.13 Units in relativistic mechanics 183</p> <p>9.14 Mass–energy equivalence in practice 184</p> <p>9.15 General relativity 185</p> <p>Worked examples 185</p> <p>Chapter 9 problems (up.ucc.ie/9/) 188</p> <p><b>10 Continuum mechanics: mechanical properties of materials: microscopic models of matter 189</b></p> <p>10.1 Dynamics of continuous media 189</p> <p>10.2 Elastic properties of solids 190</p> <p>10.3 Fluids at rest 193</p> <p>10.4 Elastic properties of fluids 195</p> <p>10.5 Pressure in gases 196</p> <p>10.6 Archimedes' principle 196</p> <p>10.7 Fluid dynamics; the Bernoulli equation 198</p> <p>10.8 Viscosity 201</p> <p>10.9 Surface properties of liquids 202</p> <p>10.10 Boyle's law (or Mariotte's law) 204</p> <p>10.11 A microscopic theory of gases 205</p> <p>10.12 The SI unit of amount of substance; the mole 207</p> <p>10.13 Interatomic forces: modifications to the kinetic theory of gases 208</p> <p>10.14 Microscopic models of condensed matter systems 210</p> <p>Worked examples 212</p> <p>Chapter 10 problems (up.ucc.ie/10/) 214</p> <p><b>11 Thermal physics 215</b></p> <p>11.1 Friction and heating 215</p> <p>11.2 The SI unit of thermodynamic temperature, the kelvin 216</p> <p>11.3 Heat capacities of thermal systems 216</p> <p>11.4 Comparison of specific heat capacities: calorimetry 218</p> <p>11.5 Thermal conductivity 219</p> <p>11.6 Convection 220</p> <p>11.7 Thermal radiation 221</p> <p>11.8 Thermal expansion 222</p> <p>11.9 The first law of thermodynamics 224</p> <p>11.10 Change of phase: latent heat 225</p> <p>11.11 The equation of state of an ideal gas 226</p> <p>11.12 Isothermal, isobaric and adiabatic processes: free expansion 227</p> <p>11.13 The Carnot cycle 230</p> <p>11.14 Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics 231</p> <p>11.15 The Helmholtz and Gibbs functions 233</p> <p>Worked examples 234</p> <p>Chapter 11 problems (up.ucc.ie/11/) 236</p> <p><b>12 Microscopic models of thermal systems: kinetic theory of matter 237</b></p> <p>12.1 Microscopic interpretation of temperature 237</p> <p>12.2 Polyatomic molecules: principle of equipartition of energy 239</p> <p>12.3 Ideal gas in a gravitational field: the ‘law of atmospheres’ 241</p> <p>12.4 Ensemble averages and distribution functions 242</p> <p>12.5 The distribution of molecular velocities in an ideal gas 243</p> <p>12.6 Distribution of molecular speeds 244</p> <p>12.7 Distribution of molecular energies; Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics 246</p> <p>12.8 Microscopic interpretation of temperature and heat capacity in solids 247</p> <p>Worked examples 248</p> <p>Chapter 12 problems (up.ucc.ie/12/) 249</p> <p><b>13 Wave motion 251</b></p> <p>13.1 Characteristics of wave motion 251</p> <p>13.2 Representation of a wave which is travelling in one dimension 253</p> <p>13.3 Energy and power in wave motion 255</p> <p>13.4 Plane and spherical waves 256</p> <p>13.5 Huygens' principle: the laws of reflection and refraction 257</p> <p>13.6 Interference between waves 259</p> <p>13.7 Interference of waves passing through openings: diffraction 263</p> <p>13.8 Standing waves 265</p> <p>13.8.1 Standing waves in a three dimensional cavity (up.ucc.ie/13/8/1/) 267</p> <p>13.9 The Doppler effect 268</p> <p>13.10 The wave equation 270</p> <p>13.11 Waves along a string 270</p> <p>13.12 Waves in elastic media: longitudinal waves in a solid rod 271</p> <p>13.13 Waves in elastic media: sound waves in gases 272</p> <p>13.14 Superposition of two waves of slightly different frequencies: wave and group velocities 274</p> <p>13.15 Other wave forms: Fourier analysis 275</p> <p>Worked examples 279</p> <p>Chapter 13 problems (up.ucc.ie/13/) 280</p> <p><b>14 Introduction to quantum mechanics 281</b></p> <p>14.1 Physics at the beginning of the twentieth century 281</p> <p>14.2 The blackbody radiation problem: Planck's quantum hypothesis 282</p> <p>14.3 The specific heat capacity of gases 284</p> <p>14.4 The specific heat capacity of solids 284</p> <p>14.5 The photoelectric effect 285</p> <p>14.5.1 Example of an experiment to study the photoelectric effect (up.ucc.ie/14/5/1/) 285</p> <p>14.6 The X-ray continuum 287</p> <p>14.7 The Compton effect: the photon model 287</p> <p>14.8 The de Broglie hypothesis: wave-particle duality 290</p> <p>14.9 Interpretation of wave particle duality 292</p> <p>14.10 The Heisenberg uncertainty principle 293</p> <p>14.11 The Schrödinger (wave mechanical) method 295</p> <p>14.12 Probability density; expectation values 296</p> <p>14.12.1 Expectation value of momentum (up.ucc.ie/14/12/1/) 297</p> <p>14.13 The free particle 298</p> <p>14.14 The time-independent Schrödinger equation: eigenfunctions and eigenvalues 300</p> <p>14.14.1 Derivation of the Ehrenfest theorem (up.ucc.ie/14/14/1/) 301</p> <p>14.15 The infinite square potential well 303</p> <p>14.16 Potential steps 305</p> <p>14.17 Other potential wells and barriers 311</p> <p>14.18 The simple harmonic oscillator 313</p> <p>14.18.1 Ground state of the simple harmonic oscillator (up.ucc.ie/14/18/1/) 313</p> <p>14.19 Further implications of quantum mechanics 313</p> <p>Worked examples 314</p> <p>Chapter 14 problems (up.ucc.ie/14/) 316</p> <p><b>15 Electric currents 317</b></p> <p>15.1 Electric currents 317</p> <p>15.2 The electric current model; electric charge 318</p> <p>15.3 The SI unit of electric current; the ampere 320</p> <p>15.4 Heating effect revisited; electrical resistance 321</p> <p>15.5 Strength of a power supply; emf 323</p> <p>15.6 Resistance of a circuit 324</p> <p>15.7 Potential difference 324</p> <p>15.8 Effect of internal resistance 326</p> <p>15.9 Comparison of emfs; the potentiometer 328</p> <p>15.10 Multiloop circuits 329</p> <p>15.11 Kirchhoff's rules 330</p> <p>15.12 Comparison of resistances; the Wheatstone bridge 331</p> <p>15.13 Power supplies connected in parallel 332</p> <p>15.14 Resistivity and conductivity 333</p> <p>15.15 Variation of resistance with temperature 334</p> <p>Worked examples 335</p> <p>Chapter 15 problems (up.ucc.ie/15/) 338</p> <p><b>16 Electric fields 339</b></p> <p>16.1 Electric charges at rest 339</p> <p>16.2 Electric fields: electric field strength 341</p> <p>16.3 Forces between point charges: Coulomb's law 342</p> <p>16.4 Electric flux and electric flux density 343</p> <p>16.5 Electric fields due to systems of charges 344</p> <p>16.6 The electric dipole 346</p> <p>16.7 Gauss's law for electrostatics 349</p> <p>16.8 Applications of Gauss's law 349</p> <p>16.9 Potential difference in electric fields 352</p> <p>16.10 Electric potential 353</p> <p>16.11 Equipotential surfaces 355</p> <p>16.12 Determination of electric field strength from electric potential 356</p> <p>16.13 Acceleration of charged particles 357</p> <p>16.14 The laws of electrostatics in differential form (up.ucc.ie/16/14) 358</p> <p>Worked examples 359</p> <p>Chapter 16 problems (up.ucc.ie/16/) 361</p> <p><b>17 Electric fields in materials; the capacitor 363</b></p> <p>17.1 Conductors in electric fields 363</p> <p>17.2 Insulators in electric fields; polarization 364</p> <p>17.3 Electric susceptibility 367</p> <p>17.4 Boundaries between dielectric media 368</p> <p>17.5 Ferroelectricity and paraelectricity; permanently polarised materials 369</p> <p>17.6 Uniformly polarised rod; the ‘bar electret’ 370</p> <p>17.7 Microscopic models of electric polarization 372</p> <p>17.8 Capacitors 373</p> <p>17.9 Examples of capacitors with simple geometry 374</p> <p>17.10 Energy stored in an electric field 376</p> <p>17.11 Capacitors in series and in parallel 377</p> <p>17.12 Charge and discharge of a capacitor through a resistor 378</p> <p>17.13 Measurement of permittivity 379</p> <p>Worked examples 380</p> <p>Chapter 17 problems (up.ucc.ie/17/) 382</p> <p><b>18 Magnetic fields 383</b></p> <p>18.1 Magnetism 383</p> <p>18.2 The work of Ampère, Biot, and Savart 385</p> <p>18.3 Magnetic pole strength 386</p> <p>18.4 Magnetic field strength 387</p> <p>18.5 Ampère's law 388</p> <p>18.6 The Biot-Savart law 390</p> <p>18.7 Applications of the Biot-Savart law 392</p> <p>18.8 Magnetic flux and magnetic flux density 393</p> <p>18.9 Magnetic fields of permanent magnets; magnetic dipoles 394</p> <p>18.10 Forces between magnets; Gauss's law for magnetism 395</p> <p>18.11 The laws of magnetostatics in differential form (up.ucc.ie/18/11/) 396</p> <p>Worked examples 396</p> <p>Chapter 18 problems (up.ucc.ie/18/) 397</p> <p><b>19 Interactions between magnetic fields and electric currents; magnetic materials 399</b></p> <p>19.1 Forces between currents and magnets 399</p> <p>19.2 The force between two long parallel wires 400</p> <p>19.3 Current loop in a magnetic field 401</p> <p>19.4 Magnetic fields due to moving charges 403</p> <p>19.5 Force on a moving electric charge in a magnetic field 403</p> <p>19.6 Applications of moving charges in uniform magnetic fields; the classical Hall effect 404</p> <p>19.7 Charge in a combined electric and magnetic field; the Lorentz force 407</p> <p>19.8 Magnetic dipole moments of charged particles in closed orbits 407</p> <p>19.9 Polarisation of magnetic materials; magnetisation, magnetic susceptibility 408</p> <p>19.10 Paramagnetism and diamagnetism 409</p> <p>19.11 Boundaries between magnetic media 411</p> <p>19.12 Ferromagnetism; permanent magnets revisited 411</p> <p>19.13 Moving coil meters and electric motors 412</p> <p>19.14 Electric and magnetic fields in moving reference frames (up.ucc.ie/19/14/) 414</p> <p>Worked examples 414</p> <p>Chapter 19 problems (up.ucc.ie/19) 416</p> <p><b>20 Electromagnetic induction: time-varying emfs 417</b></p> <p>20.1 The principle of electromagnetic induction 417</p> <p>20.2 Simple applications of electromagnetic induction 420</p> <p>20.3 Self-inductance 421</p> <p>20.4 The series L-R circuit 424</p> <p>20.5 Discharge of a capacitor through an inductor and a resistor 425</p> <p>20.6 Time-varying emfs: mutual inductance: transformers 427</p> <p>20.7 Alternating current (a.c.) 429</p> <p>20.8 Alternating current transformers 432</p> <p>20.9 Resistance, capacitance, and inductance in a.c. circuits 433</p> <p>20.10 The series <i>L-C-R </i>circuit: phasor diagrams 435</p> <p>20.11 Power in an a.c. circuit 438</p> <p>Worked examples 439</p> <p>Chapter 20 problems (up.ucc.ie/20/) 441</p> <p><b>21 Maxwell's equations: electromagnetic radiation 443</b></p> <p>21.1 Reconsideration of the laws of electromagnetism: Maxwell's equations 443</p> <p>21.2 Plane electromagnetic waves 446</p> <p>21.3 Experimental observation of electromagnetic radiation 448</p> <p>21.4 The electromagnetic spectrum 449</p> <p>21.5 Polarisation of electromagnetic waves 451</p> <p>21.6 Energy, momentum and angular momentum in electromagnetic waves 454</p> <p>21.7 The photon model revisited 457</p> <p>21.8 Reflection of electromagnetic waves at an interface between non-conducting media (up.ucc.ie/21/8/) 458</p> <p>21.9 Electromagnetic waves in a conducting medium (up.ucc.ie/21/9/) 458</p> <p>21.10 Invariance of electromagnetism under the Lorentz transformation (up.ucc.ie/21/10/) 458</p> <p>21.11 Maxwell's equations in differential form (up.ucc.ie/21/11/) 458</p> <p>Worked examples 459</p> <p>Chapter 21 problems (up.ucc.ie/21/) 461</p> <p><b>22 Wave optics 463</b></p> <p>22.1 Electromagnetic nature of light 463</p> <p>22.2 Coherence: the laser 465</p> <p>22.3 Diffraction at a single slit 467</p> <p>22.4 Two slit interference and diffraction: Young's double slit experiment 470</p> <p>22.5 Multiple slit interference: the diffraction grating 472</p> <p>22.6 Diffraction of X-rays: Bragg scattering 475</p> <p>22.7 The SI unit of luminous intensity, the candela 478</p> <p>Worked examples 479</p> <p>Chapter 22 problems (up.ucc.ie/22/) 480</p> <p><b>23 Geometrical optics 481</b></p> <p>23.1 The ray model: geometrical optics 481</p> <p>23.2 Reflection of light 481</p> <p>23.3 Image formation by spherical mirrors 482</p> <p>23.4 Refraction of light 485</p> <p>23.5 Refraction at successive plane interfaces 489</p> <p>23.6 Image formation by spherical lenses 491</p> <p>23.7 Image formation of extended objects: magnification; telescopes and microscopes 495</p> <p>23.8 Dispersion of light 497</p> <p>Worked examples 498</p> <p>Chapter 23 problems (up.ucc.ie/23/) 501</p> <p><b>24 Atomic physics 503</b></p> <p>24.1 Atomic models 503</p> <p>24.2 The spectrum of hydrogen: the Rydberg formula 505</p> <p>24.3 The Bohr postulates 506</p> <p>24.4 The Bohr theory of the hydrogen atom 507</p> <p>24.5 The quantum mechanical (Schrödinger) solution of the one-electron atom 510</p> <p>24.5.1 The angular and radial equations for a one-electron atom (up.ucc.ie/24/5/1/) 513</p> <p>24.5.2 The radial solutions of the lowest energy state of hydrogen (up.ucc.ie/24/5/2/) 513</p> <p>24.6 Interpretation of the one-electron atom eigenfunctions 514</p> <p>24.7 Intensities of spectral lines: selection rules 517</p> <p>24.7.1 Radiation from an accelerated charge (up.ucc.ie/24/7/1/) 518</p> <p>24.7.2 Expectation value of the electric dipole moment (up.ucc.ie/24/7/2/) 518</p> <p>24.8 Quantisation of angular momentum 518</p> <p>24.8.1 The angular momentum quantisation equations (up.ucc.ie/24/8/1/) 519</p> <p>24.9 Magnetic effects in one-electron atoms: the Zeeman effect 520</p> <p>24.10 The Stern-Gerlach experiment: electron spin 521</p> <p>24.10.1 The Zeeman effect (up.ucc.ie/24/10/1/) 523</p> <p>24.11 The spin-orbit interaction 523</p> <p>24.11.1 The Thomas precession (up.ucc.ie/24/11/1/) 524</p> <p>24.12 Identical particles in quantum mechanics: the Pauli exclusion principle 525</p> <p>24.13 The periodic table: multielectron atoms 526</p> <p>24.14 The theory of multielectron atoms 529</p> <p>24.15 Further uses of the solutions of the one-electron atom 529</p> <p>Worked examples 530</p> <p>Chapter 24 problems (up.ucc.ie/24/) 532</p> <p><b>25 Electrons in solids: quantum statistics 533</b></p> <p>25.1 Bonding in molecules and solids 533</p> <p>25.2 The classical free electron model of solids 537</p> <p>25.3 The quantum mechanical free electron model: the Fermi energy 539</p> <p>25.4 The electron energy distribution at 0 K 541</p> <p>25.5 Electron energy distributions at <i>T></i>0 K 544</p> <p>25.5.1 The quantum distribution functions (up.ucc.ie/24/5/1/) 544</p> <p>25.6 Specific heat capacity and conductivity in the quantum free electron model 544</p> <p>25.7 Quantum statistics: systems of bosons 546</p> <p>25.8 Superconductivity 547</p> <p>Worked examples 548</p> <p>Chapter 25 problems (up.ucc.ie/25/) 549</p> <p><b>26 Semiconductors 551</b></p> <p>26.1 The band theory of solids 551</p> <p>26.2 Conductors, insulators and semiconductors 552</p> <p>26.3 Intrinsic and extrinsic (doped) semiconductors 553</p> <p>26.4 Junctions in conductors 555</p> <p>26.5 Junctions in semiconductors; the p–n junction 556</p> <p>26.6 Biased p-n junctions; the semiconductor diode 557</p> <p>26.7 Photodiodes, particle detectors and solar cells 558</p> <p>26.8 Light emitting diodes; semiconductor lasers 559</p> <p>26.9 The tunnel diode 560</p> <p>26.10 Transistors 560</p> <p>Worked examples 563</p> <p>Chapter 26 problems (up.ucc.ie/26/) 564</p> <p><b>27 Nuclear and particle physics 565</b></p> <p>27.1 Properties of atomic nuclei 565</p> <p>27.2 Nuclear binding energies 567</p> <p>27.3 Nuclear models 568</p> <p>27.4 Radioactivity 571</p> <p>27.5 <i>𝛼</i>-, <i>𝛽</i>- and <i>𝛾</i>-decay 572</p> <p>27.6 Detection of radiation: units of radioactivity 575</p> <p>27.7 Nuclear reactions 577</p> <p>27.8 Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion 578</p> <p>27.9 Fission reactors 579</p> <p>27.10 Thermonuclear fusion 581</p> <p>27.11 Sub-nuclear particles 584</p> <p>27.12 The quark model 587</p> <p>Worked examples 591</p> <p>Chapter 27 problems (up.ucc.ie/27/) 592</p> <p>Appendix A: Mathematical rules and formulas 593</p> <p>Appendix B: Some fundamental physical constants 611</p> <p>Appendix C: Some astrophysical and geophysical data 613</p> <p>Appendix D: The international system of units — SI 615</p> <p>Bibliography 619</p> <p>Index 621</p>

<p><b>MICHAEL MANSFIELD, P<small>H</small>D</b>, is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physics, University College Cork, Ireland. <p><b>COLM O'SULLIVAN, P<small>H</small>D,</b> is Emeritus Professor in the Physics Department, University College Cork, Ireland.

<p><b>An updated and thoroughly revised third edition of the foundational text offering an introduction to physics with a comprehensive interactive website</b> <p>The revised and updated third edition of <i>Understanding Physics</i> presents a comprehensive introduction to college-level physics. Written with today's students in mind, this compact text covers the core material required within an introductory course in a clear and engaging way. The authors – noted experts on the topic – offer an understanding of the physical universe and present the mathematical tools used in physics. <p>The book covers all the material required in an introductory physics course. Each topic is introduced from first principles so that the text is suitable for students without a prior background in physics. At the same time the book is designed to enable students to proceed easily to subsequent courses in physics and may be used to support such courses. Relativity and quantum mechanics are introduced at an earlier stage than is usually found in introductory textbooks and are integrated with the more 'classical' material from which they have evolved. <p>Worked examples and links to problems, designed to be both illustrative and challenging, are included throughout. The links to over 600 problems and their solutions, as well as links to more advanced sections, interactive problems, simulations and videos may be made by typing URLs which are noted throughout the text into the address bar of a browser or by scanning the micro QR codes given alongside the URLs. <p>This new edition of this essential text: <ul> <li>Offers an introduction to the principles for each topic presented</li> <li>Presents a comprehensive yet concise introduction to physics covering a wide range of material</li> <li>Features a revised treatment of electromagnetism, specifically the more detailed treatment of electric and magnetic materials</li> <li>Puts emphasis on the relationship between microscopic and macroscopic perspectives</li> <li>Is structured as a foundation course for undergraduate students in physics, materials science and engineering</li> <li>Has been updated to conform with the revision of SI which came into force in May 2019</li> </ul> <p>Written for first year physics students, the revised and updated third edition of <i>Understanding Physics</i> offers <i>a</i> foundation text and interactive website for undergraduate students in physics, materials science and engineering.

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