The Mechanical Universe

Richard P. Olenick is currently the chair of Department of Physics at University of Dallas. He was Associate Project Director of the PBS Series The Mechanical Universe and Beyond the Mechanical Universe, which accompanied this textbook and its successors. He has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Education for his work in physics education. His current project is C3P, which developed an inquiry-based curriculum for high school physics. In 1995, Dr Olenick was named Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation and in 1997, he was named a Minnie Piper Steven Professor. In 2003, he became the Nancy Cain Marcus and Jeffrey A. Marcus Chair in Science and in 2005 he received the King Award from the University of Dallas, which is the highest honor the University can bestow on a faculty member.

This book studies electricity and magnetism, light, the special theory of relativity, and modern physics.

Preface; 1. Introduction to the mechanical universe; 2. The law of falling bodies; 3. Derivatives; 4. Inertia; 5. Vectors; 6. Newton's law; 7. Integration; 8. The apple and the moon; 9. Moving in circles; 10. Forces; 11. Gravity, electricity, and magnetism; 12. The Milliken oil-drop experiment; 13. The law of conservation of energy; 14. Energy and stability; 15. Temperature and the gas laws; 16. The engine of nature; 17. Entropy; 18. The quest for low temperatures; 19. The conservation of momentum; 20. Harmonic motion; 21. Resonance; 22. Coupled oscillators and waves; 23. Angular momentum; 24. Gyroscopes; 25. Kepler's laws and the conic sections; 26. Solving the Kepler problem; 27. Energy and eccentricity; 28. Navigating in space; 29. Loose ends and black holes; 30. The harmony of the spheres: an overview of the mechanical universe; Appendix A. The international system of units; Appendix B. Conversion factors; Appendix C. Formulas from algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; Appendix D. Astronomical data; Appendix E. Physical constants; Selected bibliography; Index.