Fundamentals of Physics: Mechanics, Relativity, and Thermodynamics

Professor R. Shankar, a well-known physicist and contagiously enthusiastic educator, was among the first to offer a course through the innovative Open Yale Course program. His popular online video lectures on introductory physics have been viewed over a million times. In this concise and self-contained book based on his online Yale course, Shankar explains the fundamental concepts of physics from Galileo’s and Newton’s discoveries to the twentieth-century’s revolutionary ideas on relativity and quantum mechanics.

The book begins at the simplest level, develops the basics, and reinforces fundamentals, ensuring a solid foundation in the principles and methods of physics. It provides an ideal introduction for college-level students of physics, chemistry, and engineering, for motivated AP Physics students, and for general readers interested in advances in the sciences.

Instructor resources–including problem sets and sample examinations–and more information about Professor Shankar’s course are available at http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/phys-200.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. The Structure of Mechanics
Chapter 2. Motion in Higher Dimensions
Chapter 3. Newton’s Laws I
Chapter 4. Newton’s Laws II
Chapter 5. Law of Conservation of Energy
Chapter 6. Conservation of Energy in d = 2
Chapter 7. The Kepler Problem
Chapter 8. Multi-particle Dynamics
Chapter 9. Rotational Dynamics I
Chapter 10. Rotational Dynamics II
Chapter 11. Rotational Dynamics III
Chapter 12. Special Relativity I: The Lorentz Transformation
Chapter 13. Special Relativity II: Some Consequences
Chapter 14. Special Relativity III: Past, Present, and Future
Chapter 15. Four-momentum
Chapter 16. Mathematical Methods
Chapter 17. Simple Harmonic Motion
Chapter 18. Waves I
Chapter 19. Waves II
Chapter 20. Fluids
Chapter 21. Heat
Chapter 22. Thermodynamics I
Chapter 23. Thermodynamics II
Chapter 24. Entropy and Irreversibility