24 Physics and Astronomy
Astronomy: OpenStax
This astronomy text has been positively-reviewed and has been successfully adopted by other faculty. It covers introductory concepts in astronomy, from astronomical instruments to the evolution of galaxies.
Includes: instructor resources, student resources, applications, summaries, exercises, solutions, and group activities.
Calculus-based Physics 1
Introductory Physics : Building Models to Describe Our World
Authors: Ryan Martin, Emma Neary, Joshua Rinaldo and Olivia Woodman
Description: This is an open-access textbook for calculus-based introductory physics courses. Anyone that complies with the license is welcome to modify and use this work for their own use, and we hope that you will choose to contribute. The textbook is specifically intended for a flipped-classroom approach, wherein students complete readings at home and the material is then discussed in class. The textbook thus contains questions and activities to engage readers. This text also includes a curriculum in experimental physics, detailing the scientific method and process, suggesting experiments to perform at home and in the lab, and has chapters that cover: writing and reviewing proposals, writing and reviewing reports, analyzing data, as well as an introduction to python. Finally, this textbook was written with many contributions from students! We hope that you may find it useful, and we are interested to know if you are using it!
Introductory Physics Resources
This book isn’t purely a textbook. Sure, it’s got information about physics, but it’s not really meant to be read like a textbook. There are tons of physics textbooks out there and frankly most of the information we teach in this class hasn’t changed in hundreds of years. The resource is written by Adria Updike from Roger Williams university.
You don’t need to know any formal physics to get started with this course, but you are expected to have a strong math background (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and some calculus) and will be expected to use those skills early and often in this course. Math is, after all, the language of physics!
In this manual, you’ll find a quick overview of the material you need to know from each section we cover, additional resources to help you better understand the material, the problems we will work on as a group in class, problems from previous course exams, problem-solving tips and strategies, and equation sheets for your own exams. Each chapter covers a general topic in the course and will include links to videos and other resources to help you with the material itself and the required math background.
Includes: Links to Videos and other resources, H5P activities, class exercises, practice exam questions.
MERLOT Physics Portal
MIT OpenCourseWare: Physics
OpenStax (aka Connexions) College Physics
Physics
This Lumen Learning covers all of the concepts of first-year physics with a balance of application and theory.
Includes: problem-solving guides, examples, videos, applications, problems, selected solutions, and summaries.
Physics 132: What is an Electron? What is Light?
Compiled by Roger Hinrichs, Paul Peter Urone, Paul Flowers, Edward J. Neth, William R. Robinson, Klaus Theopold, Richard Langley, Julianne Zedalis, John Eggebrecht, and E.F. Redish.
A second semester introductory physics course for life sciences students that looks to deepen students’ understanding of biology and chemistry through physics all through the lens of understanding two of the most fundamental particles in the Universe: electrons and photons. The book begins with exploring the quantum mechanical nature of these objects to expand on what students have learned in chemistry and then proceeds to geometric optics (using the human eye as a theme), electrostatics (using membrane potentials), circuits (using the neuron), and finally synthesizing everything in a unit exploring the meaning of “light is an electromagnetic wave.”
This book has been specifically designed for this course out of free-and-open resources such as the OpenStax College Physics textbook[1], University of Maryland’s UMD NEXUS Wikibook[2], as well as other resources from around the internet. While the text has all the information you need, some sections are also available as videos on our course YouTube page. These sections will have the link at the beginning with the section below.
Includes: Videos.
University Physics Volumes 1-3
Volume 1 concepts: mechanics, waves and acoustics
Volume 2 concepts: thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism
Volume 3 concepts: optics, modern physics
University Physics: OpenStax has been successfully adopted, was developed by professors of physics from American institutions and emphasizes the connection between application and theory.
Includes: instructor resources, student resources, examples, exercises, solutions, summaries, and simulations.