This engaging text takes the reader along the trail of light from Newton's particles to Einstein's relativity. Like the best detective stories, it presents clues and encourages the reader to draw conclusions before the answers are revealed. The first seven chapters cover the behavior of light, Newton's particle theory, waves and an electromagnetic wave theory of light, the photon, and wave-particle duality. Baierlein goes on to develop the special theory of relativity, showing how time dilation and length contraction are consequences of the two simple principles underlying the theory. An...

Suitable for both undergraduates and graduates, this textbook provides an up-to-date, accessible introduction to thermal physics. The material provides a comprehensive understanding of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and kinetic theory, and has been extensively tested in the classroom by the author who is an experienced teacher. This book begins with a clear review of fundamental ideas and goes on to construct a conceptual foundation of four linked elements: entropy and the Second Law, the canonical probability distribution, the partition function, and the chemical potential. This...