If you drop your sho e and a coin side by side, they hit the ground at the same time. Why do esn’t the sho e get there first, since gravity is pulling harder on it? How do es the lens of your eye work, and why do your eye’s muscles need to squash its lens into different shap es in order to fo cus on ob jects nearby or far away? These are the kinds of questions that physics trie s to answer ab out the b ehavior of light and matter, the two things that the universe is made of.
This is an introductory text intended for a one-year introductory course of the type typically taken by biology majors, or for AP Physics 1 and 2. Algebra and trig are used, and there are optional calculus-based sections.
- Motion in one dimension
- Motion in three dimensions
- Conservation laws
- Vibrations and waves
- Relativity and electromagnetism
- The modern revolution in physics