Physics Books

Book SynopsisA concise, yet deep introduction to experimental, geometrical optics, this book begins with fundamental concepts and then develops the practical skills and research techniques routinely used in modern laboratories. Suitable for students, researchers and optical engineers, this accessible text teaches readers how to build their own optical laboratory and to design and perform optical experiments. It uses a hands-on approach which fills a gap between theory-based textbooks and laboratory manuals, allowing the reader to develop their practical skills in this interdisciplinary field, and also explores the ways in which this knowledge can be applied to the design and production of commercial optical devices. Including supplementary online resources to help readers track and evaluate their experimental results, this text is the ideal companion for anyone with a practical interest in experimental geometrical optics.Trade Review'This book is unique in that it fills the gap between theory textbooks and laboratory manuals in the field of optics. [The authors] provide descriptions of experiments supported by theoretical explanations of the phenomena responsible … The text can also be used by instructors looking for a laboratory manual or by optical scientists hoping to hone their experimental skills. It offers valuable advice to those looking to build an optics lab, including guidance on what equipment to purchase, relevant costs, and other practical concerns. Readers are given ideas for practical applications of the knowledge gleaned from experiments for building their own optical devices. The book's online supplements, such as tools to help analyze experiment results, are a major bonus. Overall, this work is an excellent resource for instructors and for optical engineers and scientists, whether in academia or in industry.' S. Tripathi, Choice'I commend the authors for providing the optics community with an excellent laboratory manual that helps the reader to construct optical instruments that can be used to validate the material found in textbooks on geometrical optics … Hands-on experiments are preferable to demonstrations and videos of experiments; they provide critical training for readers who will actually work with optics and construct instruments. The book contains the basic physical theory and associated mathematics, a materials list, procedures, and suggestions for the reader's modification of the experiments. There are clear diagrams of ray tracing, detailed definitions of optical terms, images of the instruments and circuit diagrams of the associated electronics. The last chapter introduces the reader to optical software. Suggested references and an index are also provided.' Barry R. Masters, Optics and Photonics NewsTable of ContentsPreface; 1. Markets of optical materials, components, accessories, light sources and detectors; 2. Introduction to optical experiments: light producing, light managing, light detection and measuring; 3. Light detectors based on semiconductors: photoresistors, photodiodes in a photo-galvanic regime. Principles of operation and measurements; 4. Linear light detectors based on photodiodes; 5. Basic laws of geometrical optics: experimental verification; 6. Converging and diverging thin lenses; 7. Thick lenses; 8. Lens systems; 9. Simple optical instruments I: the eye and the magnifier, eyepieces and telescopes; 10. Simple optical instruments II: light illuminators and microscope; 11. Spherical mirrors; 12. Introduction to optical aberrations; 13. Elements of optical radiometry; 14. Cylindrical lenses and vials; 15. Methods of geometrical optics to measure refractive index; 16. Dispersion of light and prism spectroscope; 17. Elements of computer aided optical design; Index.

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Book SynopsisKinetic theory of weakly turbulent nonlinear processes in plasma helped form the foundation of modern plasma physics. This book provides a systematic overview of the kinetic theory of weak plasma turbulence from a modern perspective. It covers the fundamentals of weak turbulence theory, including the foundational concepts and the mathematical and technical details. Some key obstacles to space plasma applications are also covered, including the origin of non-thermal charged particle population, and radio burst phenomena from the sun. Treating both collective and discrete particle effects, the book provides a valuable reference for researchers looking to familiarize themselves with plasma weak turbulence theory.Table of ContentsPreface; Part I. Vlasov Weak Turbulence Theory: Electrostatic Approximation: 1. Nonlinear electrostatic equations for collisionless plasmas; 2. Electrostatic Vlasov weak turbulence theory: wave kinetic equation; 3. Electrostatic Vlasov weak turbulence theory: particle kinetic equation; Part II. Klimontovich Weak Turbulence Theory: Electrostatic Approximation: 4. Electrostatic Klimontovich weak turbulence theory; 5. Spontaneous emission and collisional kinetic equation; 6. Langmuir turbulence and electron Kappa distribution; Part III. Vlasov Weak Turbulence Theory: Electromagnetic Formalism: 7. Nonlinear electromagnetic equations in Vlasov plasmas; 8. Electromagnetic Vlasov weak turbulence theory; Part IV. Klimontovich Weak Turbulence Theory: Electromagnetic Formalism: 9. Electromagnetic Klimontovich weak turbulence theory; 10. Applications of EM Klimontovich weak turbulence theory; Epilogue; Appendix A. Time irreversible small amplitude perturbations; Appendix B. Resonant velocity integral; Appendix C. Nonlinear dispersion relations; Appendix D. Plasma dispersion function; Appendix E. Weak turbulence theory for reactive instabilities; Appendix F. On higher order perturbative expansion; Appendix G. On renormalized kinetic turbulence theory; Appendix H. One-dimensional normalized equations; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisJim Breithaupt is a physics writer with extensive experience of teaching physics in schools and colleges. In addition to this book, he has written several highly-regarded school and college text books including New Understanding Physics for Advanced Level , AQA A level Physics and AQA GCSE Physics.Trade ReviewPraise for previous editions: 'A welcome revision to this excellent book.'- Howard Cawte, University of Portsmouth, UK 'An excellent, concise and basic introduction to physics.'- Paul Bartlett, University of Bristol, UKTable of ContentsPreface How To Use This Book Units And Measurements PART I Mechanics 1. Forces in Equilibrium 2. Dynamics 3. Force and Motion 4. Energy and Power PART II Properties of Materials 5. Matter and Molecules 6. Thermal Properties of Materials 7. Strength of Solids 8. Pressure PART III Waves 9. Properties of Waves 10. Sound 11. Optics 12. Electromagnetic Waves PART IV Electricity 13. Introduction to Electricity 14. Electric Circuits 15. Capacitors 16. Electronics PART V Fields 17. Electric Fields 18. Magnetic Fields 19. Electromagnetic Induction 20. Alternating Current PART VI Atomic and Nuclear Physics 21. Electrons and Photons 22. Radioactivity 23. Energy from the Nucleus PART VII Further Physics 24. Fluid Flow 25. Gases 26. Thermodynamics 27. Uniform Circular Motion 28. Gravitation 29. Simple Harmonic Motion 30. Rotational Dynamics Further Questions Using Spreadsheets List of Experiments in The Book Location Guide to Mathematical Skills Summary of Equations Useful Data Answers to In-Text Questions and Revision Questions Answers to Further Questions Glossary Index.

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Book SynopsisIt was the desire to probe the underlying causes of the shift from the early modern ‘nature-knowledge’ to modern science that was one of the stimuli for the ‘Origins of Modernity: Early Modern Thought 1543–1789’ conference held in Sydney in July 2002.Trade ReviewAus den Rezensionen: "… Es gehört nun zur hohen Qualität dieses Bandes, dass alle Beiträge dem zugrundeliegenden methodischen Ansatz und der thematischen Intention gerecht werden … Der Band wird seinem Anspruch, die ‘patterns of change in Early Modern Natural Philosophy‘ zu beschreiben und zu analysieren, in hohem Maße gerecht. Die Beiträge sind ausgesprochen konstruktiv und nehmen erfreulicherweise vielfach Bezug aufeinander, so dass eine für einen Sammelband selten anzutreffende Kohärenz entsteht …" (http://www.sehepunkte.de)Table of ContentsThe Onset of the Scientific Revolution.- ‘Waterworld’: Descartes’ Vortical Celestial Mechanics.- Circular Argument.- From Mechanics to Mechanism.- The Autonomy of Natural Philosophy.- Physico-Theology and the Mixed Sciences.- The Saturn Problem.- Experimental Versus Speculative Natural Philosophy.

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Book SynopsisAudrey T. Carpenter was awarded a PhD in Chemistry from the University of London in 1959. After post-doctoral research she worked as a technical abstractor and librarian before returning to academia as a mature student. She was awarded a PhD in English from Loughborough University in 2010.Trade ReviewAudrey Carpenter's book is essential reading for anyone who wishes to encounter Desaguliers in the round... she has been able to uncover, and here print for the first time, significant pieces of new primary material. This is, in other words, an important work of scholarship. * Ars Quatuor Coronatorum *Carpenter has provided a detailed and comprehensive account of a sociable, scientific, teacher, whose efforts helped to shape the cultural and intellectual life of 18th-century Britain in so many ways. * Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 2012 *Now Audrey Carpenter has combined her passion for science with a very real talent for writing about it to present the first thorough account of the whole man. Her seemingly effortless literary style belies the scientific complexity of the material being presented here, drawing together the hitherto disparate elements of Desaguliers’ life and the tenets of Newtonian Natural Philosophy into a wonderfully compelling narrative...Carpenter’s work is a fine example of the History of Science at its best, and is likely to be the defining work about Desaguliers and his world for many years to come. -- Andrew Pink * Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism *Makes an important and seminal figure ... accessible to a wider audience of readers ... The history of science is richer for [the author's] efforts and students of early-modern science popularization owe Carpenter a debt as her book will become the starting point for all future scholarship on Desaguliers. * Metascience *If one man sums up the vibrancy and intellectual ferment of Newtonian London, it is the Huguenot exile and pioneering scientist, John Theophilus Desaguliers. Audrey Carpenter's compelling book assiduously reconstructs the many facets of this fascinating man's life, from his demonstrations of Newton's discoveries and his experiments with steam power and electricity to his pivotal role in the creation of new social activities such as Freemasonry. Carpenter vividly evokes through the figure of Desaguliers the coffee houses, taverns, masonic lodges and noble residences of Georgian London. -- Professor Andrew Prescott, King's College LondonCarpenter's study of Desaguliers is a carefully researched and thoughtfully written antidote to the persistent neglect Desaguliers has suffered at the hands of historians. Desaguliers's personal history could have relegated him to a liminal status but instead he became a key interlocutor of the early Enlightenment and many of its most important English manifestations: Newtonian science, the Royal Society, Freemasonry, Whiggish politics, practical engineering and the most ethereal of mechanical apparatus -- Susan Mitchell Sommers, Professor of History, Saint Vincent College, USTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part 1 - Development of a Reputation; 1. Early Life and Education: La Rochelle to Oxford; 2. Lectures in London and Beyond, and Royal Recognition; 3. Fellow of the Royal Society; 4. Translations from French and Latin, and Troubles with Booksellers; Part 2 - Applying the Expertise; 5. Patronage and the Duke of Chandos; 6. Fire, Water and Air - Desaguliers the Engineer; 7. Desaguliers' Science and publication of his Course of Experimental Philosophy and Dissertation Concerning Electricity; Part 3 - Life Beyond Science; 8. Freemasonry - Desaguliers' Contribution to the Early Years of Grand Lodge; 9. Poems, Plays and Pictures; 10. The House in Channel Row; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisJohn Theophilus Desaguliers made his mark on the eighteenth century in several diverse ways. He was an assistant to Sir Isaac Newton and later elucidated the difficult concepts of Newtonian physics in private lectures. He was a member of the Royal Society, and was presented with the Society''s highest honour, the Copley Medal, no less than three times. He was a pioneering engineer: the water supply of Edinburgh, the ventilation of the Houses of Parliament and the first Westminster Bridge all owed him a debt. In a different sphere, Desaguliers became the third Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons which was founded in 1717. He is remembered worldwide for his seminal influence during those early days of Freemasonry. He also wrote poetry and had an influential circle of patrons, including George I and Frederick, Prince of Wales (whom he initiated as a Mason at a specially convened lodge at Kew). This biography, based on original research, describes a charismatic character who Trade ReviewCarpenter's study of Desaguliers is a carefully researched and thoughtfully written antidote to the persistent neglect Desaguliers has suffered at the hands of historians. Desaguliers's personal history could have relegated him to a liminal status but instead he became a key interlocutor of the early Enlightenment and many of its most important English manifestations: Newtonian science, the Royal Society, Freemasonry, Whiggish politics, practical engineering and the most ethereal of mechanical apparatus -- Susan Mitchell Sommers, Professor of History, Saint Vincent College, USIf one man sums up the vibrancy and intellectual ferment of Newtonian London, it is the Huguenot exile and pioneering scientist, John Theophilus Desaguliers. Audrey Carpenter's compelling book assiduously reconstructs the many facets of this fascinating man's life, from his demonstrations of Newton's discoveries and his experiments with steam power and electricity to his pivotal role in the creation of new social activities such as Freemasonry. Carpenter vividly evokes through the figure of Desaguliers the coffee houses, taverns, masonic lodges and noble residences of Georgian London. -- Professor Andrew Prescott, King's College LondonTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part 1 - Development of a Reputation; 1. Early Life and Education: La Rochelle to Oxford; 2. Lectures in London and Beyond, and Royal Recognition; 3. Fellow of the Royal Society; 4. Translations from French and Latin, and Troubles with Booksellers; Part 2 - Applying the Expertise; 5. Patronage and the Duke of Chandos; 6. Fire, Water and Air - Desaguliers the Engineer; 7. Desaguliers' Science and publication of his Course of Experimental Philosophy and Dissertation Concerning Electricity; Part 3 - Life Beyond Science; 8. Freemasonry - Desaguliers' Contribution to the Early Years of Grand Lodge; 9. Poems, Plays and Pictures; 10. The House in Channel Row; Conclusion.

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