University Physics Volume 2

Reviewed by Robert Dunne, Adjunct faculty, College of DuPage on 4/19/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text provides an introduction to thermodynamics and electricity/magnetism for students who have completed or currently taking a second semester of calculus. Some of the math, such as line and surface integrals, is somewhat ahead of second-semester calculus students, but that has been true for decades for science and engineering students. I have used both the online and Kindle version (really a PDF, not a true ebook), and both were well-linked on topics. There is an index in the back matter and each chapter has a "Key Terms" glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I don't recall any mistakes. The material is basically hundreds of years old and not at a depth where there is any debate. The many illustrations and photographs bring home the concepts and equations. There may have been a few numeric errors in the "Answers" in the back of the book, but none stood out.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book covers the basics which, of course, are stable. There are a number of external links to Internet web sites, and these can be broken in the future, but this book will probably be updated by the authors when links break and are noted.

Clarity rating: 5

I like the presentation style. Questions are asked within the text, and answers provided. Of course, there are technical terms, but they are standard to the subject matter as well as explained in the book.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is not only consistent in framework and terminology within itself, but also consistent with other similar textbooks.

Modularity rating: 4

The book is nicely divided into components. Its two major "units" of thermodynamics and electricity/magnetism are independent of each other. Within each unit, the book does follow the order needed to base new concepts on those presented earlier in that unit. How modular can a physics text be or a physics curriculum for that matter?

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization is consistent with most books on this subject and presents no surprises.

Interface rating: 5

Internal links appeared solid. Images were close to the text they accompany. External Internet links may someday break, but hopefully the authors or their associates will correct those as soon as noticed.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The sentence structure was not overly complex nor so simple as to be boring. I found it to be a comfortable reading experience for a textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I saw nothing that should be taken as offensive to gender, age, race, ethic, or other backgrounds. Was it very progressive in these areas? Not really. It focused on the subject matter as do most physics texts in general.

Comments

I believe this text is an excellent candidate to bring home the concepts and provide working examples for most students building a background in thermodynamics and electricity/magnetism. Not every text "talks" to every student. We all have differences and learn in different ways. From my perspective, University Physics Vol. 2 fits more in an engineering tract than one for physics majors, but that also depends on the additional laboratory experience included in courses.

Reviewed by Yongwen Lampert, Part-time Instructor, Portland Community College on 1/7/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book covers Thermodynamics and Electricity and Magnetism with great details. The index at the end is handy to find particular topics.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The equations and theories are well documented.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The contents are arranged nicely.

Clarity rating: 5

The jargon/technical terminology are clearly defined and well explained.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 5

Thermodynamics are divided into 4 chapters and E&M are divided into 12 chapters. Each chapter has smaller sections.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Most of the topics are arranged in a clear fashion, however, I would make some small changes, for example, I would move the section of "capacitors in series or in parallels" to a section after a DC circuit is introduced.

Interface rating: 5

The interface of the book is user friendly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I don't think the book is culturally insensitive or offensive.

Comments

This book is a nice substitute for expensive textbooks. The theories are explained in a clear and detailed manner. I like the section titled, “calculating electric fields of charge distributions” – the examples are well organized and explained; it clearly explained the difference between a disk (E = sigma/(2 epsilon)) and a conductive plate (E = sigma/epsilon), which some textbooks failed to compare and distinguish.
The instructor’s manual provides homework problem solutions including the problems, so it’s easy to provide homework to students. However, the solutions to some of the chapters provides only the final answers and don’t have the detailed analysis, so it’s not quite helpful to provide them to students to help them understand how to analyze the homework problems.
I would organize some of the contents differently in my class:
1. The book introduces the connection of capacitors in parallel and series before an introduction of a circuit. I would provide a through introduction of current and voltage in a circuit before I present the different ways to connect capacitors in a circuit.
2. The chapter of DC Circuits provides plenty homework problems of Kirchhoff’s rules; I wish it had more homework problems for combining resisters in series and parallel before jumping to Kirchhoff’s rules.
Overall, the book is well organized, and the examples and equations are well documented. I’m using it for the first time in my calculus-based class.

Reviewed by Mazin Khasawneh, Assistant Professor, Earlham College on 1/29/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

I found the book comparable to other texts assigned for students who are planning to be physicists and engineers. Derivations in each chapter are simple and clear, diagrams, illustrations, etc. are of professional quality. One important think I think students will appreciate is the abundance of examples that can facilitate student learning. Each chapter has a collection of conceptual questions, exercises and problems at the end of each chapter to reinforce the concepts and ideas covered in that chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content is accurate, with very little, errors. Formulae and notation follow standard practice used in other text books.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The material is concise, so it is natural that the text be up to date on the content. The material covered in the book and the way (and order) is relevant to its target audience. I think that including the additional resources such as links to PhET make the book more current as a good resource for students and instructors.

Clarity rating: 5

The book uses standard notation and terminology for the subject at this level.

Consistency rating: 5

The book follows standard notation.

Modularity rating: 5

The level of modularity seems appropriate. Students like that the problem solving strategies are broken out and highlighted,

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is will organized; it follows the standard organization found in other textbooks designed for similar courses.

Interface rating: 4

I used the book's pdf format, and I have found it easy to navigate.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Seems appropriate.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not find any thing that could be seen as insensitive to any race, gender or ethnicity.

Comments

Just keep the good work!

Reviewed by Lynn Norbury, Certified Master Tutor and Supervisor of Science Tutors and Lab Technicians, Central Oregon Community College on 6/24/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text is very broad in the number of topics presented. It does indeed require journey-level experience with trigonometry and calculus because it does not show how to derive the formulas in use, nor does it break the example problems down to a level approachable by students with less than rigorous math skills. The index is really helpful because it provides links to the text materials for the subjects indexed.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found no computation errors or typos.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The breadth of topics included surpasses the typical textbooks in use at my institution because it addresses modern physics applications. For example, there's an interesting passage about the effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in section 13.7 as a diagnostic tool for certain health disorders. Most Physics texts rely on tried and true examples like refrigeration or heat engines. This one is more current.

Clarity rating: 4

Easy to read and acronyms are properly identified. I did find an example (ex. 1.11) where the example problem was present in an italicized, serif font, for which the small case l looked like a number one, 1. In fact, it looks like I have a typo on that previous sentence because of font styles. In the textbook, the font choice had the effect of causing a subscript representing Aluminum to look like A1 rather than Al.

Consistency rating: 5

Very consistent organization. The chapters start with learning objectives and summarize working equations prior to the end-of-chapter problem sets. The graphics use a low key and limited color pallet which is complementary to the text as opposed to being distractive due to an over-use of hot colors.

Modularity rating: 5

Very user friendly for selecting just a few chapters to cover. The text uses embedded links to direct students to necessary information covered in other chapters. For example, there's a link to "Stress, Strain, and Elastic Modulus" embedded in the text of problem #105 for Chapter 1. Chapter 1 is about heat transfer and the link provides the additional information needed to solve a heat transfer problem with heat expansion. Another embedded link is planted in section 9.6 for further information about "Condensed Matter Physics" These embedded links are helpful and convenient.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Very standardized throughout, even down to the conservative color scheme for graphics and navigational aids.

Interface rating: 4

Almost seamless. I did learn by trial and error that the problems numbers are also links to the answer key which enables a student to toggle back and forth at will.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text was written in simple, short sentences. No errors were found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

It's very male-oriented in its selection of researchers to cite. Female-led research in Physics may be more scarce than male-led research, but it would be a service to society to represent more diversity.

Comments

Seeing a breakdown of the methods used to derive the working equations would be greatly appreciated. I "get it" that those methods are covered in math classes, but if a physics textbook provides some additional mathematical methodology, it does a great service to the students. Not all of our undergraduate students can recreate their calculus or differential equation skills on short notice. More detail in the answer key would also be beneficial for students.

Reviewed by Himanshu Verma, Assistant Professor, Nicholls State University on 4/28/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This volume has two units. In Unit 1, it has four chapters covering different topics in Thermodynamics. In Unit 2, it has sixteen chapters various concepts of E&M starting with the basics to Maxwell equations.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I couldn't find errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Volume two (this textbook) is very relevant however other volumes may need some updates such as new definition of kilogram and mole.

Clarity rating: 5

The text has been written in simple language and students won't have any difficulty to understand.

Consistency rating: 5

All three volumes are very consistent. The course contents are divided very nicely that covers three semesters of physics in three different volumes.

Modularity rating: 5

Unit two, E&M is spread over sixteen chapters that usually not seen in a physics textbook. Those sixteen chapters build your E&M concept with details and lot of examples.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Each chapter starts with a relevant figure, chapter outline and introduction section. Each subsection has a learning objective, lots of formulas, figures, worked out examples, and reference weblinks if needed. Each chapter ends with key terms, key equations, summary, conceptual questions, and problems in the end. Additional questions in each chapters are challenging and let you think how to apply physics in real world problems (science and technology).

Interface rating: 5

Nothing confusing at all.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

It is a science (Physics textbook), so obviously nothing offensive in contents.

Comments

As a Physics faculty I have used various textbooks in my teaching career, this one is written in a very organized way. This one just not only gives you the relevant knowledge in Physics but also infuses creativity and curiosity to learn more about what is happening around us, why and how. The textbook equips you well how to solve physics problems providing step by step guidance. The textbook requires a strong understanding of first and second year of algebra and calculus. Seven appendices and index at the end of text provides you readily available information you may need while using the text. The text doesn't cover the laboratory component of Thermodynamics and E&M, a separate lab manual will be needed if the lab course is also taught simultaneously, which is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Deepak Iyer, Assistant Professor, Bucknell University on 3/4/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook is indeed comprehensive, perhaps a little too comprehensive, although this allows the instructor to pick and choose what subjects she wishes to teach. The material covered is basically that of any standard course in university physics, going back to the Berkeley series for example. The treatment is more or less traditional, with ample real world examples, photographs, and illustrations.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I haven't read every page in detail, but the sections that I read were error-free, and the information presented is factually correct.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The content is fairly traditional. Introductory physics courses have not changed in their content for perhaps a century, so the book is certainly current in that sense. It attempts to make connections with real-life applications, and some modern developments, but these are mostly cursory and are not developed in detail. The order of presentation of material, the exposition, are all traditional. In that sense, it serves as a perfectly good replacements to many expensive books, which are also quite traditional.

Clarity rating: 4

The book is mostly well written. In some places there are confusing statements, either due to wording, or due to the concepts being challenging. For example, while discussing temperature, it is introduced as a quantity defined by what a thermometer measures. However, from this definition, the next part on calibrating thermometers makes no sense, unless there's an independent way to think about temperatures. These are opportunities to get into some subtleties which the book ignores. There are some discussions (ideal gases, van Der Waals forces etc.) that get complicated quickly, and are perhaps not too instructive.

Consistency rating: 5

The chapters and sections I read were reasonably consistent, there weren't glaring differences in style, notation, etc.

Modularity rating: 4

Entire units can easily be skipped. There is minimal cross-referencing between units. With each unit however, the chapters are sequential to an extent, however, with a little work it is possible to skip chapters as well. Some of the examples and notation might have to be setup explicitly to fill in gaps. It would be almost impossible to cover the entire text in a semester - this would really be two semesters worth of material, if any learning has to happen. It will also have to be supplemented with tutorials, demos, problem solving sessions, discussion sessions etc.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

See comment on clarity. The book is organized mostly as a traditional introductory physics text book is. The list of topics is standard. The book, unfortunately, does not attempt anything pedagogically interesting. That said, there are very few texts out there that do that, so this is as good, if not better than the usual non-free texts that people use. Whether this traditional presentation is the easiest for learning isn't clear, and logical flow is often conflated with chronological flow in such texts.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is quite nice. Text is well typeset, graphics are well selected, appropriately laid out, and well captioned. Each section begins with 3-4 learning goals that serve as a useful guide for both instructor and student. Chapters end with summaries of terminology, equations, etc. Conceptual questions and problems are extensive. Examples and Checkpoints are displayed using easily identifiable visual elements making the text quite easy to follow.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No specific comments. The language is easy to follow and is free from grammatical and spelling errors, as far as I could tell from the sections and chapters I looked at.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

I didn't come across any instances of offensive material, however the book could use some work with representation. Actors in examples are mostly male, scientists that are discussed are all male, there doesn't seem to be any effort to recognize women and other minorities in science in the text. Examples contain references to weapons, etc. without much concern for the ethics behind disconnecting such examples from their real world contexts. But again, nothing vastly different from what you'd find in a standard physics text.

Comments

This book is a perfectly good free and open replacement to exorbitantly priced texts published by Pearson, etc. It doesn't live up to the ethical standards that one might hope that a book associated with a movement that is fundamentally about free access and community is, but perhaps thats a tall expectation. I would happily adopt this text as a replacement for existing texts. However, if you're looking for something that is pedagogically progressive, has radically new ways of presenting material, and entering deeper discussions about fundamental laws, then this isn't it.

Reviewed by Michael Gallis, Associate Professor of Physics, Penn State Schuylkill Campus on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text provides good coverage of the standard material covered in the second semester (of three) of the typical calculus based physics sequence. I am in the last week of the semester using the text for the Electricity and Magnetism topics. The text also has good chapters on Temperature, Kinetic Theory, etc. that will be part the third semester’s materials in the calculus based physics sequence.

Each chapter’s coverage is complete at an appropriate level of a University Physics Course. Derivations are clear, artwork (diagrams, illustrations, etc.) are of professional quality, and there are an abundance of examples to help with the scaffolding that can facilitate student learning. There are also a good collection of conceptual questions, exercises and problems at the end of each chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate, and aside from minutia, error free. Formulas and notation follow standard practice.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The subject material is extremely stable, so it is quite natural that the text be up to date on the content. The text covers the standard topics nicely, so it is certainly relevant to its target audience. I had been looking for an appropriate open textbook for the calculus based physics sequence and I was glad to discover this text.

The additional resources that the text includes, such as links to external web accessible resources such as PhETs make the book more current as a complete resource for students and teachers.

Clarity rating: 5

The book uses standard notation and terminology for the subject at this level. From the student’s perspective, the plethora of examples provides sufficient scaffolding to develop understanding and expertise with the material.

Consistency rating: 5

The book follows standard notation throughout. It is consistent in the level of difficulty across material.

Modularity rating: 2

Within the context of the typical physics course sequence, the subject material itself does not lend itself to being modular. The chapters on thermodynamics (usually covered in the third semester) could be used in any order relative to primary coverage topics in Electricity and Magnetism, but within that set of topics the coverage must necessarily continuously build upon earlier material.

I would not say that this book is modular, but for this material, this is a good thing. There are sections within each chapter that might be considered option and omitted, but the sequence of material is essentially set by topic development and context.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are presented in the usual sequence of the material. Within the chapters, the topics are developed at good pace, with a good selection of examples.

Interface rating: 5

I’ve primarily used the books pdf format, and I have found it easy to navigate using the bookmark functions. The book’s content (prose, equations, figures and tables) are well formatted in both pdf and web formats.

Although figures are provided to instructors in the form of images within PowerPoint files, I’ve found it more convenient to copy and paste directly from the text when creating supplementary materials for the students.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not come across any glaring grammatical errors. The book is well written and well edited.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

As an introductory text for rather dry topics like Electricity and Magnetism and Thermodynamics, there’s not much opportunity for cultural relevance. I did not notice any points of insensitivity and in the (rare) illustrations and examples that involved a human being there seemed to be some diversity of race, gender and ethnicity. For a physics text, I suppose it is as culturally relevant as possible. There is, when appropriate, some mention of relevant societal topics (greenhouse effect in the context of heat transfer, power grid efficiency in the context of transformers and AC circuits).

Comments

This review is of the second volume of a three volume set and is reviewed in the context of my current Electricity and Magnetism Course.

A quick glance at the version history shows that the authors have the ability to make minor incremental changes and corrections without waiting for print edition cycles. Thus minor improvements, corrections and improvements can be made quickly. I am delighted to see a good open education resource text for the introductory calculus based physics sequence.

Reviewed by Lawrence Davis, Associate Professor, Umpqua Community College on 2/15/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Overall, the text comprehensiveness is comparable to other books designed for the Calculus based 200-level physics course. For example, I was disappointed in the treatment of convection, which was almost entirely qualitative, with one oversimplified quantitative example. However, this is common among similar texts. Considering many of these students are future engineers and physicists, this concept could be given more depth. However, the inclusion/explanation of the Van der Waals Equation of State, and behavior and phase diagrams of real gasses was a nice addition. Previously I have pulled this information from a text different from the main course text.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Conceptually, yes. I did not check example problems or end of chapter problems.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The book uses up-to-date terminology and descriptions of topics. There are links to resources outside of the OpenStax system, such as links to Java simulations, which may become broken or give students trouble as the resources move or become out of date. For example, students working on campus computers will know how/not have privileges to add sites to exceptions lists to get around in-house security apps from blocking sites with out of date Java simulations.

Clarity rating: 4

The book typically uses careful, up-to-date language, with special care taken for concepts that are non-intuitive and/or commonly lead to misconceptions. For example, the description of the zeroth law is similar to other texts, but puts emphasis on a lack of net energy exchange, which puts the student in the right mindset for understanding equilibrium and for examination of the remaining thermodynamics concepts. The in-text links to simulations are useful, for example the Maxwell speeds distribution simulation (the Brownian motion option is especially illustrative). Some links to additional resources led to unfinished pages, which might frustrate students and instructors, for example the link to additional information about the ultraviolet catastrophe: http://cnx.org/contents/_dS0E2kQ@2/Introduction

Consistency rating: 4

As is typical, looking at the chapter organization, you find that capacitance appears on equal footing to Electric Charges and Fields in terms of each getting a chapter. It would be nice to see an organizational structure that is more consistent with the hierarchy of "fundamentalness" but I don't have an immediate solution to offer on this point, so this is more a comment than a critique.

Modularity rating: 4

The level of modularity seems appropriate and is similar to other texts for this course. Volume II appears less modular than volume I, which is a good think in my opinion, because Volume I was modular almost to the point of being distracting. Students like that the problem solving strategies are broken out and highlighted, however this may encourage students to avoid reading the text and only search for the specific information they need to solve HW problems. This is an issue with all texts, however.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Follows the standard organization/structure/flow found in most textbooks for this course.

Interface rating: 3

Some graphics appear to be relatively low quality in the ascetic sense, but not sufficiently low to hinder understanding. The links to additional content, especially simulations, are a fantastic resource and these should be touted and brought to the "front" of the interface in order to capture students and draw them into investigating the simulations. Some links lead to unfinished resources, hopefully those will be updated.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Appears appropriate.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Does not appear to be culturally insensitive or offensive. The microscopic nature of the majority of the content in this volume offers relatively fewer opportunities for depiction of people, compared to Volume I on mechanics for example. The majority of photographs depicted white individuals, however a few other cultures were represented. Considering the current political climate, conscious care might be taken to make language specifically inclusive, for example instead of using "desert dwellers" to refer to people who live in the desert, "people who live in the desert" might be used instead. The word "she" appears roughly 4 times in the text, 3 of these in one problem. The word "her" appears roughly 3 times in the text, one of these in the same problem. The word "he" appears many more times, the large majority of these are in a historical context. With these removed, "he" and "his" appear roughly the same number of times as "she" and "her".