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Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics, 4th edition

Published by Pearson (January 6, 2016) © 2017

  • Randall D. Knight
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For courses in introductory calculus-based physics.

A research-driven approach with a focus on qualitative reasoning

Physics for Scientists and Engineers incorporates Physics Education Research and cognitive science best practices that encourage conceptual development, problem-solving skill acquisition and visualization. Knight stresses qualitative reasoning through physics principles before formalizing physics mathematically, allowing student development of problem-solving skills with a systematic, scaffolded approach. 

The 4th Edition extends problem-solving guidance to emphasize modeling while more challenging problem sets help students gain confidence and develop problem-solving skills. 

Hallmark features of this title

  • A consistent 4-step approach provides a problem-solving framework throughout the book. Detailed problem-solving strategies for different topics and categories of problems are developed and built on the 4-step framework.
  • Worked examples follow the 4-step strategy and include careful explanations of the underlying, and often unstated, reasoning.
  • Tactics Boxes give step-by-step procedures for developing specific skills (drawing free-body diagrams, using ray tracing, etc.).
  • Advanced topics as optional sections further expands instructors' options.
  • Visual chapter summaries consolidate understanding by providing each concept in words, math, and figures, organized in a vertical hierarchy–from General Principles (top) to Applications (bottom).

New and updated features of this title

  • Model boxes enhance the text's emphasis on modeling by analyzing a complex, real-world situation in terms of simple but reasonable idealizations that can be applied over and over in solving problems. This approach helps students recognize when and how to use recurring models.
  • Looking Back Pointers enable students to look back at a previous chapter when it's important to review concepts. Pointers provide the specific section to consult at the exact point in the text where they need to use this material.
  • REVISED: Enhanced Chapter Previews address the questions students are most likely to ask themselves while studying the material for the first time.

Highlights of the DIGITAL UPDATE for Mastering Physics (available for Fall 2020 classes)

Instructors, contact your sales rep to ensure you have the most recent version of the course.

  • NEW: 10 Prelecture Reading Questions per chapter, created by Randall Knight, check students' familiarity with key concepts and prompt them to do assigned reading before class.
  • NEW: Quantitative Prelecture Videos complement Interactive Prelecture Videos and expose students to concepts before class to help them learn how to work problems for a specific concept.
  • NEW: 15 Tutorials for each chapter of Physics for Scientists and Engineers are assignable in Mastering.

Features of Mastering Physics for the 4th Edition; published 2016

  • Interactive Prelecture Videos introduce key topics to help students prepare before lecture and to help professors identify student misconceptions. The videos include animated whiteboard videos specific to the text
  • Dynamic Study Modules, specific to the text, pose a series of question sets about a course topic. Questions adapt to a student's performance and offer personalized, targeted feedback.
  • Video Tutor Solutions walk students through the text's problem-solving process and offer links to relevant content. Video Tutor Demonstrations engage students in understanding key concepts with pause-and-predict demonstrations.

Complete version: Chapters 1-42 includes 6 chapters of modern physics. This title is also available as 3 separate volumes:

  • Volume 1: Chapters 1-21
  • Volume 2: Chapters 22-36
  • Volume 3: Chapters 36-42

I. NEWTON'S LAWS

  1. Concepts of Motion
  2. Kinematics in One Dimension
  3. Vectors and Coordinate Systems
  4. Kinematics in Two Dimensions
  5. Force and Motion
  6. Dynamics I: Motion Along a Line
  7. Newton's Third Law
  8. Dynamics II: Motion in a Plane

II.CONSERVATION LAWS

  1. Work and Kinetic Energy
  2. Interactions and Potential Energy
  3. Impulse and Momentum

III. APPLICATIONS OF NEWTONIAN MECHANICS

  1. Rotation of a Rigid Body
  2. Newton's Theory of Gravity
  3. Fluids and Elasticity

IV. OSCILLATIONS AND WAVES

  1. Oscillations
  2. Traveling Waves
  3. Superposition

V. THERMODYNAMICS

  1. A Macroscopic Description of Matter
  2. Work, Heat, and the First Law of Thermodynamics
  3. The Micro/Macro Connection
  4. Heat Engines and Refrigerators

VI. ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

  1. Electric Charges and Forces
  2. The Electric Field
  3. Gauss's Law
  4. The Electric Potential
  5. Potential and Field
  6. Current and Resistance
  7. Fundamentals of Circuits
  8. The Magnetic Field
  9. Electromagnetic Induction
  10. Electromagnetic Fields and Waves
  11. AC Circuits

VII. OPTICS

  1. Wave Optics
  2. Ray Optics
  3. Optical Instruments

VIII. RELATIVITY AND QUANTUM PHYSICS

  1. Relativity
  2. The Foundations of Modern Physics
  3. Quantization
  4. Wave Functions and Uncertainty
  5. One-Dimensional Quantum Mechanics
  6. Atomic Physics
  7. Nuclear Physics

About our author

Randy Knight taught introductory physics for 32 years at Ohio State University and California Polytechnic University; where he is Professor Emeritus of Physics. Professor Knight received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California; Berkeley and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics before joining the faculty at Ohio State University. It was at Ohio State that he began to learn about the research in physics education that; many years later; led to Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching and this book; as well as College Physics: A Strategic Approach; co-authored with Brian Jones and Stuart Field. Professor Knight's research interests are in the field of laser spectroscopy and environmental science. When he's not in front of a computer; you can find Randy hiking; sea kayaking; playing the piano; or spending time with his wife Sally and their six cats.

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