Richard A. Lindgren Home Page

Instructor

Instructor of Record:

Dr. R.A. Lindgren, Research Professor of Physics
Office Hours: TBA
Phone: 434-982-2691
E-mail: ral5q@virginia.edu

Lecturer & Demonstrator:

Dr. Louis A. Bloomfield, Professor of Physics

Description

This course is a practical introduction to physics and science in everyday life. The course considers objects from our daily environment (baseballs, frisbees, roller coasters, vacuum cleaners, rockets, clocks and much more!) and focuses on their principles of operation, histories, and relationships to one another. This course emphasizes motion, mechanics, liquids, heat, gases, and sound. The demonstrator and lecturer is Professor Lou Bloomfield, who has originated and developed the courses How Things Work I and II at UVa. The lectures are on CD Roms and will be sent to you by first class mail.

Textbook

How Things Work: the Physics of Everyday Life, 3^rd edition, by Dr. Bloomfield. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-46886-X, 576 pages, full-color, paperback. If you already have the 2^nd edition, you do not have to buy the 3^rd edition. In fact our schedule of topics will more closely follow the 2^nd edition.

In keeping with the changing world of information, one-third of this book is located on the web rather than on paper. To access those web sections, just click on their links here – scroll down and look for the sections that appear underlined in blue in the Table of Contents. The online material is actually contained in the longer first edition, so if you have the first edition, you really do not need the second or third edition of the book – all problems are rewritten in WebAssign

You are welcome to buy the book online. A number of sites are listed here. You may also get it from the UVa book store. The phone number is 434-924-3721.