Problems For Physics Students

A collection of four hundred physics problems chosen for their stimulating qualities and designed to aid advanced high school and first-year university physics and engineering students. Questions cover a wide range of subjects in physics and vary in difficulty.

This book basically caters to the needs of undergraduates and graduates physics students in the area of classical physics, specially Classical Mechanics and Electricity and Electromagnetism. Lecturers/ Tutors may use it as a resource book. The contents of the book are based on the syllabi currently used in the undergraduate courses in USA, U.K., and other countries. The book is divided into 15 chapters, each chapter beginning with a brief but adequate summary and necessary formulas and Line diagrams followed by a variety of typical problems useful for assignments and exams. Detailed solutions are provided at the end of each chapter.

In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam. Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book, Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics; Part 2 covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics. Praise for A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 1: Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics: "Sidney Cahn and Boris Nadgorny have energetically collected and presented solutions to about 140 problems from the exams at many universities in the United States and one university in Russia, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Some of the problems are quite easy, others are quite tough; some are routine, others ingenious." (From the Foreword by C. N. Yang, Nobelist in Physics, 1957) "Generations of graduate students will be grateful for its existence as they prepare for this major hurdle in their careers." (R. Shankar, Yale University) "The publication of the volume should be of great help to future candidates who must pass this type of exam." (J. Robert Schrieffer, Nobelist in Physics, 1972) "I was positively impressed ... The book will be useful to students who are studying for their examinations and to faculty who are searching for appropriate problems." (M. L. Cohen, University of California at Berkeley) "If a student understands how to solve these problems, they have gone a long way toward mastering the subject matter." (Martin Olsson, University of Wisconsin at Madison) "This book will become a necessary study guide for graduate students while they prepare for their Ph.D. examination. It will become equally useful for the faculty who write the questions." (G. D. Mahan, University of Tennessee at Knoxville)

This book is targeted mainly to the undergraduate students of USA, UK and other European countries, and the M. Sc of Asian countries, but will be found useful for the graduate students, Graduate Record Examination (GRE), Teachers and Tutors. This is a by-product of lectures given at the Osmania University, University of Ottawa and University of Tebrez over several years, and is intended to assist the students in their assignments and examinations. The book covers a wide spectrum of disciplines in Modern Physics, and is mainly based on the actual examination papers of UK and the Indian Universities. The selected problems display a large variety and conform to syllabi which are currently being used in various countries. The book is divided into ten chapters. Each chapter begins with basic concepts containing a set of formulae and explanatory notes for quick reference, followed by a number of problems and their detailed solutions. The problems are judiciously selected and are arranged section-wise. The so- tions are neither pedantic nor terse. The approach is straight forward and step-- step solutions are elaborately provided. More importantly the relevant formulas used for solving the problems can be located in the beginning of each chapter. There are approximately 150 line diagrams for illustration. Basic quantum mechanics, elementary calculus, vector calculus and Algebra are the pre-requisites.

This book is the second edition, whose original mission was to offer a new approach for students wishing to better understand the mathematical tenets that underlie the study of physics. This mission is retained in this book. The structure of the book is one that keeps pedagogical principles in mind at every level. Not only are the chapters sequenced in such a way as to guide the reader down a clear path that stretches throughout the book, but all individual sections and subsections are also laid out so that the material they address becomes progressively more complex along with the reader's ability to comprehend it. This book not only improves upon the first in many details, but it also fills in some gaps that were left open by this and other books on similar topics. The 350 problems presented here are accompanied by answers which now include a greater amount of detail and additional guidance for arriving at the solutions. In this way, the mathematical underpinnings of the relevant physics topics are made as easy to absorb as possible.

This book will strengthen a student's grasp of the laws of physics by applying them to practical situations, and problems that yield more easily to intuitive insight than brute-force methods and complex mathematics. These intriguing problems, chosen almost exclusively from classical (non-quantum) physics, are posed in accessible non-technical language requiring the student to select the right framework in which to analyse the situation and decide which branches of physics are involved. The level of sophistication needed to tackle most of the two hundred problems is that of the exceptional school student, the good undergraduate, or competent graduate student. The book will be valuable to undergraduates preparing for 'general physics' papers. It is hoped that even some physics professors will find the more difficult questions challenging. By contrast, mathematical demands are minimal, and do not go beyond elementary calculus. This intriguing book of physics problems should prove instructive, challenging and fun.