All volumes of this free physics textbook are written to entertain pupils, students, teachers and everybody who is curious about the world of motion. These five volumes present established physics. (A bonus volume, on a research topic, is also available.) Here are the tables of contents.
The volume on motion in everyday life
Get volume I | FALL, FLOW AND HEAT | |
1 | Why should we care about motion? | 15 |
2 | From motion measurement to continuity | 33 |
3 | How to describe motion – kinematics | 72 |
4 | From objects and images to conservation | 90 |
5 | From the rotation of the Earth to the relativity of motion | 123 |
6 | Motion due to gravitation | 151 |
7 | Classical mechanics and the predictability of motion | 195 |
8 | Measuring change with action | 213 |
9 | Motion and symmetry | 229 |
10 | Simple motions of extended bodies – oscillations and waves | 248 |
11 | Do extended bodies exist? – Limits of continuity | 283 |
12 | Fluids and their motion | 301 |
13 | From heat to time-invariance | 319 |
14 | Self-organization and chaos - the simplicity of complexity | 348 |
15 | From the limitations of physics to the limits of motion | 366 |
Appendix A | Notation and conventions | 372 |
Appendix B | Units, measurements and constants | 383 |
Appendix C | Sources of information of motion | 398 |
More details on mechanics are given here and on thermodynamics are given here. Both topics are covered in volume I. This first volume explains motion in everyday life with clear language, with few formulae and with many fun facts.
The volume on relativity
Get volume II | RELATIVITY | |
1 | Maximum speed, observers at rest, and motion of light | 14 |
2 | Relativistic mechanics | 59 |
3 | Special relativity in four sentences | 95 |
4 | Simple general relativity: gravitation, maximum speed and maximum force | 97 |
5 | How maximum speed changes space, time and gravity | 124 |
6 | Open orbits, bent light and wobbling vacuum | 147 |
7 | From curvature to motion | 170 |
8 | Why can we see the stars? - Motion in the universe | 194 |
9 | Black holes - falling forever | 240 |
10 | Does space differ from time? | 258 |
11 | General relativity in a nutshell - a summary for the layman | 265 |
Appendix A | Units, measurements and constants | 272 |
More details on volume II, on relativity and cosmology, are given here. Read about the maximum speed in nature, about the maximum force, about the twin paradox, about the curvature of space, and understand why the sky is dark at night.
The volume on electromagnetism
Get volume III | LIGHT, CHARGES AND BRAINS | |
1 | Liquid electricity, invisible fields and maximum speed | 14 |
2 | The description of electromagnetic field evolution | 69 |
3 | What is light? | 88 |
4 | Images and the eye - optics | 122 |
5 | Electromagnetic effects | 168 |
6 | Summary and limits of classical electrodynamics | 192 |
7 | The story of the brain | 198 |
8 | Thought and language | 217 |
9 | Concepts, lies and patterns of nature | 238 |
10 | Classical physics in a nutshell | 279 |
Appendix A | Units, measurements and constants | 286 |
More details on volume III, on electromagnetism and the brain, are found here. Enjoy the many effects of electricity, magnets and light -- from magic to mirages.
The volume on basic quantum theory
Get volume IV | THE QUANTUM OF CHANGE | |
1 | Minimum action - quantum theory for poets | 13 |
2 | Light - the strange consequences of the quantum of action | 35 |
3 | Motion of matter - beyond classical physics | 60 |
4 | The quantum description of matter and its motion | 74 |
5 | Permutation of particles - Are particles like gloves? | 94 |
6 | Rotations and statistics - visualising spin | 105 |
7 | Superpositions and probabilities - quantum theory without ideology | 120 |
8 | Colours and other interactions between light and matter | 145 |
9 | Quantum physics in a nutshell | 169 |
Appendix A | Units, measurements and constants | 175 |
Appendix B | Numbers and vector spaces | 192 |
More details on volume IV, on quantum physics, are given here. Learn about the smallest amount of change that is observable in nature, how it determines the size of atoms, and how it fixes all colours around us.
The volume on motion inside matter
Get volume V | PLEASURE, TECHNOLOGY AND STARS | |
1 | Motion for enjoying life | 14 |
2 | Changing the world with quantum theory | 44 |
3 | Quantum electrodynamics - the origin of virtual reality | 81 |
4 | Quantum mechanics with gravitation - the first approach | 98 |
5 | The structure of the nucleus - the densest clouds | 118 |
6 | The sun, stars and the birth of matter | 147 |
7 | The strong interaction | 156 |
8 | The weak nuclear interaction and the handedness of nature | 175 |
9 | The standard model of elementary particle physics - as seen on television | 190 |
10 | Dreams of unification | 195 |
11 | Bacteria, flies and knots | 203 |
12 | Quantum physics in a nutshell – again | 232 |
Appendix A | Units, measurements and constants | 246 |
Appendix B | Composite particle properties | 260 |
Appendix C | Space, algebras and shapes | 276 |
More details on volume V, on biology, technology and astrophysics, are given here. The fifth volume covers all motion found inside matter: inside materials, inside cells, inside atomic nuclei and inside stars.
The bonus volume
More details on the status and research for the bonus volume, on the strand model, are found here. This sixth volume covers research on an approach to unify fundamental physics, an approach that arose directly from writing the first five textbook volumes. The approach differs from other candidates: all its predictions agree with experiments and all observations about nature, also the ones unexplained after the first five textbook volumes, are explained. The approach is still a topic of research, and thus the sixth bonus volume is not part of the five textbook volumes.