Essential Physics Part 1

Throughout the decade of the 1990’s, Professor Firk taught a one-year course of a specialized nature to students who entered Yale College with excellent preparation in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences, and who expressed an interest in Physics or a closely related field. The students were required to take the highest level of introductory Mathematics in parallel with the course. The book covers topics taught in the first semester; they include: 1. MATHEMATICAL PRELIMINARIES 2. KINEMATICS: THE GEOMETRY OF MOTION 3. CLASSICAL AND SPECIAL RELATIVITY 4. NEWTONIAN DYNAMICS 5. INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES AND CONSERVATION LAWS 6. EINSTEINIAN DYNAMICS 7. NEWTONIAN GRAVITATION 8. EINSTEINIAN GRAVITATION: INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL RELATIVITY 9. THE CALCULUS OF VARIATIONS 10. CHAOS 11. WAVE MOTION 12. ORTHOGONAL FUNCTIONS AND FOURIER SERIES APPENDIX : SOLVING ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Frank W. K. Firk is Professor Emeritus of Physics, Former Chairman of the Department of Physics, Director of the Electron Accelerator Laboratory and Master of Trumbull College, Yale University