- #1
onoturtle
- 46
- 13
I'm looking for suggestions of resources to learn introductory E&M and "modern physics" (I'm thinking relativity, QM, particle) conceptually. This learning is out of self interest.
While my focus is for conceptual understanding, this doesn't mean any suggested resources should be devoid of math... I just don't plan on spending too much time reading/doing sample problems (I did those in college for E&M) and fussing over the details of derivations, so a resource should still be understandable even when skipping most of those.
My only experience learning E&M was via the typical calculus-based physics sequence in college (no E&M in high school as far as I can remember) using Tipler's text. However, it was during a 6-week summer session, so naturally it was accelerated and my learning was more focused on how to solve the problem types that could possibly be on the exams. Thus this education didn't stick and I feel that like I have no real "intuitive", conceptual understanding of E&M. I have no previous experience trying to learn modern physics, other than what concepts may overlap with an first college course in chemistry.
I think I still have Tipler's book stored somewhere and may be worth digging that one out. I think my brother may still have Young and Freedman's University Physics that he used in college, so that may be an option too. The "Free Physics Books" thread is partially useful, but I don't know which ones are appropriate for me. From that thread, Crowell's Conceptual Physics is short and thus may cover the topics as much as I would like, but hey, it is free to try out. The author also has a free calc-based book. OpenStax also has a free college physics book.
I see Hewitt's Conceptual Physics suggested in other situations. I can probably find older editions on the cheap if that's really recommended for my E&M needs. Though seems like I'll need to go else where for modern physics.
While my focus is for conceptual understanding, this doesn't mean any suggested resources should be devoid of math... I just don't plan on spending too much time reading/doing sample problems (I did those in college for E&M) and fussing over the details of derivations, so a resource should still be understandable even when skipping most of those.
My only experience learning E&M was via the typical calculus-based physics sequence in college (no E&M in high school as far as I can remember) using Tipler's text. However, it was during a 6-week summer session, so naturally it was accelerated and my learning was more focused on how to solve the problem types that could possibly be on the exams. Thus this education didn't stick and I feel that like I have no real "intuitive", conceptual understanding of E&M. I have no previous experience trying to learn modern physics, other than what concepts may overlap with an first college course in chemistry.
I think I still have Tipler's book stored somewhere and may be worth digging that one out. I think my brother may still have Young and Freedman's University Physics that he used in college, so that may be an option too. The "Free Physics Books" thread is partially useful, but I don't know which ones are appropriate for me. From that thread, Crowell's Conceptual Physics is short and thus may cover the topics as much as I would like, but hey, it is free to try out. The author also has a free calc-based book. OpenStax also has a free college physics book.
I see Hewitt's Conceptual Physics suggested in other situations. I can probably find older editions on the cheap if that's really recommended for my E&M needs. Though seems like I'll need to go else where for modern physics.