College Physics 9th Edition by Raymond A. Serway and Chris Vuille

Book Preface

College Physics is written for a one-year course in introductory physics usually taken by students majoring in biology, the health professions, and 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 eighth edition, analytics gathered from both professors and students who use Enhanced WebAssign, as well as reviewers’ suggestions, we have refined the text to better meet the needs of students and teachers.

This textbook, which covers the standard topics in classical physics and twentieth-century physics, is divided into six parts. Part 1 (Chapters 1–9) deals with Newtonian mechanics and the physics of fluids; Part 2 (Chapters 10–12) is concerned with heat and thermodynamics; Part 3 (Chapters 13 and 14) covers wave motion and sound; Part 4 (Chapters 15–21) develops the concepts of electricity and magnetism; Part 5 (Chapters 22–25) treats the properties of light and the field of geometric and wave optics; and Part 6 (Chapters 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 an understanding of the concepts and principles through a broad range of interesting applications to the real world. 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.

Changes to the Ninth Edition

A large number of changes and improvements have been made in preparing the ninth edition of this text. 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 eighth edition and by reviewers of the manuscript. The features listed here represent the major changes in the eighth edition.

Analytics from Enhanced WebAssign Used to Revise Questions and Problems

As part of the revision of the questions and problems sets, the authors utilized extensive user analytics gathered by WebAssign, from both instructors who assigned and students who worked on problems from previous editions of College Physics. These analytics helped tremendously, indicating where the phrasing in problems could be clearer, and providing guidance on how to revise problems so they were more easily understandable for students and more easily assignable in Enhanced WebAssign. Finally, the analytics were used to ensure that the problems most often assigned were retained for this new edition. In each chapter’s problems set, the top quartile of problems that were assigned in WebAssign have blue-shaded problem numbers for easy identification, allowing professors to quickly and easily find the most popular problems that were assigned in Enhanced WebAssign.

Integration with Enhanced WebAssign

The textbook’s tight integration with Enhanced WebAssign content facilitates an online learning environment that helps students improve their problem-solving skills and gives them a variety of tools to meet their individual learning styles. New to this edition, Master It tutorials help students solve problems by having them work through a stepped-out solution. Problems with Master It tutorials are indicated in each chapter’s problem set with a icon. In addition, Watch It solution videos explain fundamental problem-solving strategies to help students step through selected problems. The problems most often assigned in Enhanced WebAssign (shaded in blue) have feedback to address student misconceptions, helping students avoid common pitfalls.

Thorough Revision of Artwork

Every piece of artwork in the ninth edition was revised in a new and modern style that helps express the physics principles at work in a clearer and more precise fashion. Every piece of art was also revised to make certain that the physical situations presented corresponded exactly to the text discussion at hand.
Also added for this edition is a new feature for many pieces of art: “guidance labels” that point out important features of the figure and guide students through figures without having to go back-and-forth from the figure legend to the figureitself. This format also helps those students who are visual learners. An example of this kind of figure appears below.