Physics' Assimilation and Purpose:
Fundamentals and uses of measurement, theory, and observation.
Hardback and softcover
1st edition, 3 January 2025: Independently published
Availability: Amazon (e.g. US, UK, or Oz)
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Wanting comprehensive introductory, baccalaureate, and freshperson's coverage of physics' understanding and practice? And needing a fertile basis for onward study? Or simply wondering how the subject’s seemingly disparate topics connect together and to the natural sciences?
This text marries that essential head-start in physics with profound scholastic treatment - all packaged as a handy companion and reference that is:
►Foundational, holistic, and centred on best practice.
►Contextual to the natural sciences.
►Inclusive of contemporary applications, with particular focus on semiconductors, medicine, and astronomy.
►Indicative of both historical settings and probable future trends.
►Questioning of assimilation readiness via multiple choices.
Some quick links and further info below
►US, UK, or Oz as examples of Amazon's viewing/purchasing sites
Taglines:
►Reference text for instructors and students
►Course companion
►From high school and sixth form to the first year of universities
►Inclusivity of semiconductors, communication, medicine, astronomy, and cosmology
Author: Philip James Henderson
Titling: Dr, CPhys
Connections: Calluna Resources, EMMAY Associates, Gooch & Housego, LinkedIn
Short (backcover) bio: With specialisms in lasers and fibre-optic instrumentation, Philip Henderson’s experience spans professorial teaching at Forman Christian College Lahore, and research at the Universities of Liverpool, Sydney, and Kent.
Preface and backcover description:
Starting small, but seeking profound enlightenment, this book expounds the methodology and usage of the physical revelation of Nature. For physicists of up to first-year undergraduacy, and with interests spanning experiment, theory, and the liberal arts, the book acts as an explanatory companion to the handling of data, and other topics ranging from mechanics, waves, and electricity to the exotica of photonics, healthcare, and the stars.
With an accessible style that includes margin notes, examples, and multiple-choice questions, the content is holistic throughout, occasionally mathematical, and fully referenced to help instil best practice, thought, and understanding. And, with a profusion of guidelines, applications, and tips, as well as pointers on active areas of research, the curious may be eased deeper into the subject.
Introduction (Copyright 2025)
Regardless of our awareness, we exist within a universe whose evolving structure continuously yields to our destiny. Physics, however, allows us to take control. Rooted upon perception of Nature, and with origins in a miscellany of disparate disciplines – that include philosophy, mathematics, religion, and intuition – physics has come to elucidate the interactions of matter ranging from subatomic entities to the largest bodies in space; and inter alia has eased applications of motion, and the practising of communication, medicine, and astronomy.
At the heart of physics is a fundamental inter-connective methodology that unlocks the simplicity, symmetry, and beauty of Nature. Indeed, the grail of many physicists is the establishment of a unified and comprehensive explicative theory. Although far from complete, our present discourses on particles, energy, and physical interactions include the conceptual unification of electricity and magnetism by Maxwell (1865), and major strides towards understanding mass and gravitation by Newton (1687) and Einstein (1916). Nonetheless, advances in physics require a cautionary approach. Time, for example, has been debated since antiquity yet, in physics, is merely a descriptor of change – after all, without change, physical systems would not age, there would be no clocks, and the concept of time would have no meaning. So, whilst we are concerned with the physics of Nature, we must remain acutely aware of the nature of physics.
Whereas physics is but a representation of Nature, its practice contributes to the growth of knowledge accelerated by both innate human desire and rigorous scientific doctrine. With the latter having origins in experimental principles established by al‑Haytham (c.1016), first modern investigative procedure formulated by Bacon (1620), consolidative works by Galileo (1638), and deeper philosophy of Newton (1687), successful physicists follow a maturing tradition known as the scientific method:
The Scientific Method:
Scrutiny:
Since antiquity, the curious have sought to make sense of the universe. Postulates are propounded. Concepts are originated.
Measurements and records:
Empiricists observe and measure. Data are recorded. Manual and electronic techniques are used for visualisation. A good sketch or graph can, indeed, paint a thousand words.
Theory:
Theoreticians engage the language of mathematics to predict outcomes, and explain recorded data.
Establishment of physical laws, and growth of knowledge:
Empiricism and theory are used to test postulates and concepts. Substantiation increases our knowledge of Nature, whilst the establishment of physical laws provides a universal, timeless predictive power that is often juxtaposed by the brevity of a simple formula and concise description.
Dissemination:
Scientific works are communicated to the wider community through the principal languages of English and mathematics. Good publication requires novel works packaged as a balanced mixture of text, formulae, and diagrams.
New scrutiny, review, and acceptance of change:
New topics are continuously identified and advanced through the same scientific method, whilst existing ones are subjected to confirmation or refutation. Scientists must be eager to renew their understanding in the light of new information.
Towards assimilation of the method’s best-practice in physics, this text now addresses the content, interconnection, and applications of
its following key (chapter) themes:
#1: Handling of data
#2: Description of motion
#3: Cause of motion
#4: Mechanisms on the propagation of energy:
- sub-theme: ultrasound based medicine
#5: Mechanisms and unification of physical interaction
- sub-theme: magnetic-resonance based medicine
#6: Physics of electronics and photonics
- sub-themes: semiconductors, communication, electromagnetic medicine
#7: Nature of space and time
- sub-themes: astronomy, cosmology
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