College Physics 11th Edition

Book Preface

College Physics is written for a one-year course in introductory physics usually taken by students majoring in biology, the health professions, or other disciplines, including environmental, earth, and social sciences, and technical fields such as architecture. The mathematical techniques used in this book include algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, but not calculus. Drawing on positive feedback from users of the tenth edition, analytics gathered from both professors and students, as well as reviewers’ suggestions, we have refined the text to better meet the needs of students and teachers. In addition, the text now has a fully-integrated learning path in MindTap.

This textbook, which covers the standard topics in classical physics and twentieth-century physics, is divided into six parts. Part 1 (Topics 1–9) deals with Newtonian mechanics and the physics of fluids; Part 2 (Topics 10–12) is concerned with heat and thermodynamics; Part 3 (Topics 13 and 14) covers wave motion and sound; Part 4 (Topics 15–21) develops the concepts of electricity and magnetism; Part 5 (Topics 22–25) treats the properties of light and the field of geometric and wave optics; and Part 6 (Topics 26–30) provides an introduction to special relativity, quantum physics, atomic physics, and nuclear physics.

Objectives
The main objectives of this introductory textbook are twofold: to provide the student with a clear and logical presentation of the basic concepts and principles of physics and to strengthen their understanding of them through a broad range of interesting, real-world applications. To meet those objectives, we have emphasized sound physical arguments and problem-solving methodology. At the same time we have attempted to motivate the student through practical examples that demonstrate the role of physics in other disciplines. Finally, with the text fully integrated into MindTap, we provide a learning path that keeps students on track for success.

Changes to the Eleventh Edition
The text has been carefully edited to improve clarity of presentation and precision of language. We hope that the result is a book both accurate and enjoyable to read. Although the overall content and organization of the textbook are similar to the tenth edition, numerous changes and improvements have been made in preparing the eleventh edition. Some of the new features are based on our experiences and on current trends in science education. Other changes have been incorporated in response to comments and suggestions offered by users of the tenth edition. The features listed here represent the major changes made for the eleventh edition.

Mindtap® for Physics
MindTap for Physics is the digital learning solution that helps instructors engage and transform today’s students into critical thinkers. Through paths of dynamic assignments and applications that instructors can personalize, real-time course analytics, and an accessible reader, MindTap helps instructors turn cookie-cutter assignments into cutting-edge learning pathways and elevate student engagement beyond memorization into higher-level thinking.

Developed and designed in response to years of research, MindTap leverages modern technology and a powerful answer evaluation system to address the unmet needs of students and educators. The MindTap Learning Path groups the most engaging digital learning assets and activities together by week and topic, including readings and automatically graded assessments, to help students master each learning objective. MindTap for Physics assessments incorporate assorted just-in-time learning tools such as displayed solutions, solution videos for selected problems, targeted readings, and examples from the textbook. These just-in-time tools are embedded directly adjacent to each question to help students maintain focus while completing automatically graded assessments. Easy to use, efficient and informative, MindTap provides instructors with the ability to personalize their course with dynamic online learning tools, videos and assessments. An assignable Pre-Course Assessment (PCA) provides a student diagnostic pre-test and personalized improvement plans to help students’ foundational math skills outside of class time.

Interactive Video Vignettes encourage an active classroom where students can address their alternate conceptions outside of the classroom. Interactive Video Vignettes include online video analysis and interactive individual tutorials to address learning difficulties identified by PER (Physics Education Research).

Organization by topics
Our preparatory research for this edition showed that successful students don’t just read physics, they engage with physics. The MindTap platform is designed as an integrated, active educational experience that incorporates diverse media and has assessment-based applied knowledge at its very core. While integrating College Physics into MindTap, we realized that students were using the textbook as a resource while working on their online homework, rather than as a narrative source. As we continued creating a variety of media, just-in-time-help, and other material to support our activity-based pedagogy, it became clear we were building learning paths and designing assessments around specific topics, guided by the fundamental learning objectives of those topics. Consequently, we switched from “chapters” to “topics” to emphasize the textbook’s new place as part of an active, fully-integrated online MindTap experience.