Introduction to the Structure of Matter: A Course in Modern Physics

By William J. Mullins and John J. Brehm

A first course in two of the 20th century's most exciting contributions to physics: special relativity and quantum theory. Historical material is incorporated into the exposition. Coverage is broad and deep, offering the instructor flexibility in presentation. Nearly every section contains at least one illustrative example (with all calculations), and each chapter has a wide selection of problems. Topics covered include relativistic dynamics, quantum mechanics, parity, quantum statistical physics, the nuclear shell model, fission, fusion, color and the strong interaction, gauge symmetries, and grand unification.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 047160531X
• ISBN13: 9780471605317
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 960 Pages
• Weight: 4.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.2" x 2.1" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Good all-round text on modern physics

This hefty textbook provides a solid introduction to the major fields of modern physics; i.e. physics in the 20th century. These topics are relativity, the structure of atoms, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. The text is appropriate for physics majors in the 3rd or 4th year of college, and is also a good book for students of materials science who are learning modern physics as an elective. The book is comparatively low on math and high in verbosity compared to other physics texts of the same subject matter; hence making it more accessible to non-physicists like engineers, chemists, etc... Each chapter comes complete with homework problems, and in this reviewer's experience, they are well done and error-free. I do not recommend this book for a one-semester class, it covers enough subject matter for 2-3 classes in modern physics - quantum mechanics. Overall, a good book to learn about modern physics and its ties with materials science.

Good Value

This is a junior or senior level text on essentially all of modern physics. Every topic is well explained and at a high level. It is short of a graduate text, but very good in terms of physics rather than mathematics. The main difference being ,I think, is a graduate text uses more advanced math (calculus of variations, bras and kets,group theory, etc) whereas this book only uses partial differential equations . However, the PDEs do suffice to accurately derive the results, and the student should certainly know both approaches.Numerical solutions are given to about half of the chapters problems.Additionally, the authors have went to the trouble of tracing the origin and development of the subjects, and explaining the motivations and difficulties that the pioneers faced, when possible.It is true there is too much material to be covered in a single year...but I think this just adds to the value since it can be used as a reference as well as text.

Clear, detailed account of modern physics

This book does cover a lot of information that it seems overwhelming. However, this is only because the authors explain the concepts "all the way". For example, the discussion on wave packets includes the explanation of phase (an excellent diagram for learning how to visualize phase and group velocity) plus some details on complex analysis. Basically I find the descriptions of experiments, concepts and math very clear and detailed.I would say that the verbosity of this book is excellent for people who like to get all the details clear. Readers with much faster brain processors, those who can't wait to learn more of QM or those who understands much of the fundamental physics and math behind QM might be bored by this book. Summary:Pros: 1. Clear Explanations 2. attention to thorough and detailed explanation 3. some excellent diagrams!!!!Cons: 1. Too verbose for some 2. rather heavy to carry around!!!