Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics, 5th edition

For courses in introductory calculus-based physics.

A research-driven approach to physics

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 and development of problem-solving skills using a systematic, scaffolded approach. This practical introduction to physics relates physics to everyday life and includes models, modeling and advanced topics.

New content in the 5th Edition includes Entropy quantitatively, Viscosity and Poiseuille's Equation, and Carnot Efficiency details.

Also available with Mastering PhysicsMastering® is the teaching and learning platform that empowers you to reach every student. By combining trusted author content with digital tools developed to engage students and emulate the office-hour experience, Mastering personalizes learning and improves results for each student. Mastering Physics extends learning and provides students with a platform to practice, learn, and apply knowledge outside of the classroom. Learn more about Mastering Physics. 

Plus, get anytime, anywhere access with Pearson eText 
Pearson eText is an easy-to-use digital textbook available within Mastering that lets students read, highlight, take notes, and review key vocabulary all in one place. 

For instructors not using Mastering, Pearson eText can also be adopted on its own as the main course material. Learn more about Pearson eText. 

About the book

Build problem-solving skills and confidence

• UPDATED - 4-step problem-solving approach shifts to Model/Visualize/Solve/Review, using a final step of “Review” rather than “Assess” to better reflect the content of the final step. This approach provides a framework throughout the book, using the 4-step framework with detailed problem-solving strategies for different topics and types of problems. Tactics Boxes give step-by-step procedures for developing specific skills (drawing free-body diagrams, using ray tracing, etc.). 
• UPDATED - Worked examples follow the 4-step strategy and include careful explanations of the underlying, and often unstated, reasoning with new examples that show how things work to relate physics to everyday life. 
• Model boxes enhance the text's emphasis on modeling—analyzing a complex, real-world situation in terms of simple but reasonable idealizations that can be applied over and over in solving problems. These fundamental simplifications are developed in the text and then deployed more explicitly in the worked examples, helping students to recognize when and how to use recurring models (such as motion with constant acceleration or the photon model of light). 

Promote a deeper and better-connected understanding

• UPDATED - Enhanced Chapter Previews address the questions students are most likely to ask themselves while studying the material for the first time. Questions cover the important ideas, and provide a big-picture overview of the chapter's key principles. 
• 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. 
• Visual chapter summaries consolidate understanding by providing each concept in words, math, and figures and organizing these into a vertical hierarchy—from General Principles (top) to Applications (bottom). 

Gain knowledge in a variety of physics topics

• Advanced topics as optional sections further expands instructors' options. Topics include rocket propulsion, gyroscopes and precession, the wave equation (including for electromagnetic waves), the speed of sound in gases, and more details on the interference of light. 
• Tactics Boxes give step-by-step procedures for developing specific skills (drawing free-body diagrams, using ray tracing, etc.). 

Reach every student with Mastering Physics

Teach your course your way

• NEW - Ready-to-Go Study Tools in the Mastering Physics Study Area help students master the toughest topics (as identified by professors and fellow students completing homework and practicing for exams). Key Concept Videos, Interactive Worked Examples, and problem sets with answer-specific feedback are all-in-one and easy-to-navigate to keep students focused and give them the scaffolded support needed to succeed. Students can use Ready-to-Go Study Toolson their own, even when their professor doesn't assign the modules. 
• Pearson eText is an easy-to-use digital textbook available within Mastering. It lets students read, highlight, take notes, and review key vocabulary* all in one place, even when offline. Seamlessly integrated videos and other rich media* engage students and give them access to the help they need, when they need it. Educators can easily customize the table of contents and share their own notes with students so they see the connection between their eText and what they learn in class — motivating them to keep reading, and keep learning. 
• NEW - Access reading analytics.  Analytics Dashboard. Use the dashboard to gain insight into how students are working in their eText to plan more effective instruction in and out of class. 
• Scheduled Reading. Assign a chapter or specific section to hold students accountable for their reading and help them prep for lecture, homework, and quizzes. Scheduled Readings populate to each student's assignment page, and you can now link readings directly to a Mastering assignment.

Deliver trusted content

• ENHANCED - 20% of Enhanced End-of-Chapter Questionsplus 300 End-of-Chapter Questions are coded with wrong-answer specific feedback. Significantly revised end-of-chapter problem sets include more challenging problems that expand the range of physics and math skills students use to solve problems—and a new icon for calculus-based problems is included.
• NEW - 10 Reading Questions per chapter, created by author Randall Knight, provide students with wrong-answer specific feedback and can be assigned in Mastering Physics. Questionscheck students' familiarity with key concepts, prompting them to do their assigned reading before class. Additional open-ended questions help students identify the topics they found most difficult and assist instructors with “just-in-time” teaching. 
• NEW - Book-specific Tutorials specific to each chapter of Physics for Scientists and Engineers are assignable in Mastering Physics. 
• NEW - Dynamic Study Modulesare specific toPhysics for Scientists and Engineers. The assignable modules pose a series of question sets about a course topic. The questions adapt to each student's performance and offer personalized, targeted feedback to help them master key concepts. As a result, students build the confidence they need to deepen their understanding, participate meaningfully, and perform better — in and out of class. Students can use their computer or the MyLab and Mastering app to access Dynamic Study Modules. 

Empower learners

• NEW - Interactive Prelecture Videos provide an introduction to key topics with embedded assessment to help students prepare before lecture and to help professors identify student misconceptions. Animated whiteboard prelecture videos specific to Physics for Scientists and Engineers are expanded to provide two semesters of content for instructors who teach an active classroom. 
• Quantitative Prelecture Videos helps students learn how to solve problems for a specific concept. 
• Prep questions aligned with the 2015 MCAT exam are based on the Foundational Concepts and Content Categories outlined by the Association of American Medical Colleges. This blend of 140 new passage problems and physics problems in a biology context are assignable in Mastering Physics.
• Lab Resources give you the ability to assign activities to help students prepare and succeed in the lab and are now available as a book source in the Mastering item library.
• NEW - 25 Video Tutor Solutions  (VTS) for Physics for Scientists and Engineers walk students through the problem-solving process, provide links to relevant content in the text, and can be accessed using embedded links in the eText. Select VTSs are provided as optional links in related end-of-chapter problems, available in the Study Area of Mastering Physics, and assignable in Mastering. 
• PhET Tutorials are interactive simulations built using research-based simulations from the PhET Group at the University of Colorado – Boulder that help students make connections between real-life phenomena and the underlying physics,

About the book

Build problem-solving skills and confidence

• 4-step problem-solving approach shifts to Model/Visualize/Solve/Review, using a final step of "Review" rather than "Assess" to better reflect the content of the final step. This approach provides a framework throughout the book, using the 4-step framework with detailed problem-solving strategies for different topics and types of problems. Tactics Boxes give step-by-step procedures for developing specific skills (drawing free-body diagrams, using ray tracing, etc.).
• Worked examples follow the 4-step strategy and include careful explanations of the underlying, and often unstated, reasoning with new examples that show how things work to relate physics to everyday life.

Promote a deeper and better-connected understanding

• Enhanced Chapter Previews address the questions students are most likely to ask themselves while studying the material for the first time. Questions cover the important ideas, and provide a big-picture overview of the chapter's key principles.

Reach every student with Mastering Physics

Teach your course your way

• Ready-to-Go Study Tools in the Mastering Physics Study Area help students master the toughest topics (as identified by professors and fellow students completing homework and practicing for exams). Key Concept Videos, Interactive Worked Examples, and problem sets with answer-specific feedback are all-in-one and easy-to-navigate to keep students focused and give them the scaffolded support needed to succeed. Students can use Ready-to-Go Study Toolson their own, even when their professor doesn't assign the modules.
• Pearson eText is an easy-to-use digital textbook available within Mastering. It lets students read, highlight, take notes, and review key vocabulary* all in one place, even when offline. Seamlessly integrated videos and other rich media* engage students and give them access to the help they need, when they need it. Educators can easily customize the table of contents and share their own notes with students so they see the connection between their eText and what they learn in class — motivating them to keep reading, and keep learning.
• Access reading analytics. Use the dashboard to gain insight into how students are working in their eText to plan more effective instruction in and out of class.

Deliver trusted content

• ENHANCED - 20% of Enhanced End-of-Chapter Questions plus 300 End-of-Chapter Questions are coded with wrong-answer specific feedback. Significantly revised end-of-chapter problem sets include more challenging problems that expand the range of physics and math skills students use to solve problems—and a new icon for calculus-based problems is included.
• 10 Reading Questions per chapter, created by author Randall Knight, provide students with wrong-answer specific feedback and can be assigned in Mastering Physics. Questions check students' familiarity with key concepts, prompting them to do their assigned reading before class. Additional open-ended questions help students identify the topics they found most difficult and assist instructors with "just-in-time" teaching.
• Book-specific Tutorials specific to each chapter of Physics for Scientists and Engineers are assignable in Mastering Physics.
• Dynamic Study Modules are specific to Physics for Scientists and Engineers. The assignable modules pose a series of question sets about a course topic. The questions adapt to each student's performance and offer personalized, targeted feedback to help them master key concepts. As a result, students build the confidence they need to deepen their understanding, participate meaningfully, and perform better — in and out of class. Students can use their computer or the MyLab and Mastering app to access Dynamic Study Modules.

Empower learners

• Interactive Prelecture Videos provide an introduction to key topics with embedded assessment to help students prepare before lecture and to help professors identify student misconceptions. Animated whiteboard prelecture videos specific to Physics for Scientists and Engineers are expanded to provide two semesters of content for instructors who teach an active classroom.
• Lab Resources give you the ability to assign activities to help students prepare and succeed in the lab and are now available as a book source in the Mastering item library.
• 25 Video Tutor Solutions (VTS) for Physics for Scientists and Engineers walk students through the problem-solving process, provide links to relevant content in the text, and can be accessed using embedded links in the eText. Select VTSs are provided as optional links in related end-of-chapter problems, available in the Study Area of Mastering Physics, and assignable in Mastering.