Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Figure 1.13 Problem-solving skills are essential to your success in physics. (credit: “scui3asteveo”/Flickr) Problem-solving skills are clearly essential to success in a quantitative course in physics. More important, the…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Figure 1.11 shows two instruments used to measure the mass of an object. The digital scale has mostly replaced the double-pan balance in physics labs because it gives…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: On many occasions, physicists, other scientists, and engineers need to make estimates for a particular quantity. Other terms sometimes used are guesstimates, order-of-magnitude approximations, back-of-the-envelope calculations, or Fermi calculations. (The physicist Enrico Fermi…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: The dimension of any physical quantity expresses its dependence on the base quantities as a product of symbols (or powers of symbols) representing the base quantities. Table 1.3 lists the base…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: It is often necessary to convert from one unit to another. For example, if you are reading a European cookbook, some quantities may be expressed in units…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: As we saw previously, the range of objects and phenomena studied in physics is immense. From the incredibly short lifetime of a nucleus to the age of…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Physics is devoted to the understanding of all natural phenomena. In physics, we try to understand physical phenomena at all scales—from the world of subatomic particles to…
Figure 1.1 This image might be showing any number of things. It might be a whirlpool in a tank of water or perhaps a collage of paint and shiny beads done for art class. Without knowing the size of the object in…
30.1 Discovery of the Atom 30.2 Discovery of the Parts of the Atom: Electrons and Nuclei 30.3 Bohr’s Theory of the Hydrogen Atom 30.4 X Rays: Atomic Origins and Applications 30.5 Applications of Atomic Excitations and De-Excitations 30.6 The Wave Nature of Matter Causes Quantization 30.7 Patterns…
Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: Multiple-Electron Atoms All atoms except hydrogen are multiple-electron atoms. The physical and chemical properties of elements are directly related to the number of electrons a neutral atom…