Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics

Book Cover

Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics

By James Trefil, Robert M. Hazen

Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics is an introductory physics course that conveys the principles of physics in a manner that is understandable to non-majors. This course is clear, engaging, and contemporary, and pays particular attention to the relevance of physics in comprehending our modern technological society and the issues created by those technologies. It offers a broad, relatively non-mathematical survey of all the standard topics in physics.

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Read, Study, and Practice

Students learn course concepts using the complete online eTextbook, flashcards, crossword puzzles, practice questions, videos, and animations. Organized by learning objective, students can filter for relevant learning resources based on what they need to study most and print any section of the eTextbook.

ORION Adaptive Practice (when available)

Every student has a different starting point, and adaptive practice provides endless opportunities for practice to effectively prepare for class or quizzes and exams. Active retrieval of information with practice questions is proven to improve retention of information better than re-reading or reviewing the material, and students who use adaptive practice to prepare for exams do significantly better than those who do not. Students begin with a quick, chapter-level diagnostic to determine their initial level of understanding, and they can use the dashboard and quick reports to see what topics they know and don’t know.

Assignments

Students who fully engage in WileyPLUS assignments do better in the course by more than a letter grade. Auto-graded assignments give students immediate feedback based on flexible assignment settings determined by the instructor, while the notification center allows students to set their own email notification policies to stay on track.

Instructors can select from extensive and reliable question banks to create and deploy reading, practice, homework, pre-post lectures, and assessment assignments. This course includes essay, label drag-and-drop, multiple choice, text entry, and true-/false question types.

Gradebook

Students know where they stand on WileyPLUS assignments, and they can track progress by learning objective.

Instructors have insights into student performance at the granular question attempt and can track trends by individual student, assignment, or learning objective. Flexible policies allow instructors to change points, set assignment weighing policies, extend individual due dates, or drop the lowest grade.

Chapter 1. Science: A Way of Knowing
Chapter 2. The Language of Science
Chapter 3. Motions in the Universe
Chapter 4. Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion
Chapter 5. The Law of Universal Gravitation
Chapter 6. Conservation of Linear Momentum
Chapter 7. Rotational Motion of an Object
Chapter 8. Kinetic and Potential Energy
Chapter 9. Atomic Structure and Phases of Matter
Chapter 10. Properties of Matter
Chapter 11. Heat and Temperature
Chapter 12. The First Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 13. Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 14. Vibrations and Waves
Chapter 15. Sound
Chapter 16. Electric and Magnetic Forces
Chapter 17. Electromagnetic Interactions
Chapter 18. Electric Circuits
Chapter 19. The Electromagnet ic Spectrum
Chapter 20. Classical and Modern Optics
Chapter 21. Atomic Structure and Interactions
Chapter 22. Quantum Mechanics
Chapter 23. Chemical Bonds and Physical Properties
Chapter 24. Electrical and Magnetic Properties of Materials
Chapter 25. Semiconductor Devices and Information Technology
Chapter 26. The Nucleus of The Atom
Chapter 27. The Ultimate Structure of Matter
Chapter 28. Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity
Chapter 29. Cosmology

A. Units and Numbers
B. Selected Physical Constants
C. Periodic Table and Atomic Weights
Glossary
Photo Credits
Index