Feynman lectures on physics
The Feynman Lectures on Physics (AKA english The Feynman Lectures on Physics ) is a 1964 collection of lectures appeared that the Nobel laureate Richard Feynman from 1961 to 1963 at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) held for undergraduate students.
The textbook consists of three volumes, each of which deals with a larger topic. Topics from the fields of mathematics , electromagnetism , classical mechanics , statistical mechanics and thermodynamics , quantum physics and the relationship between physics and the other natural sciences are dealt with . Before publication, the lectures by Feynman, Matthew Sands and Robert B. Leighton were revised so that they are also comprehensible and understandable in book form. The books were sold over a million times by 2010. There are translations in around a dozen languages.
A selection of easier-to-understand chapters was later published as Six Physical Finger Exercises and Physical Finger Exercises for Advanced Users for readers with no prior physical knowledge .
Background and origin
The fact that Richard Feynman, a then world-famous physicist, took over the beginners' lectures at his university, is part of the response of the American education system to the Sputnik shock . As he explains in his foreword, he assumed that physics students were very curious about modern physics . You should therefore get to know the exciting areas such as relativity theory and quantum mechanics in the first semesters, not after a long study of classical physics, as is traditionally usual.
The idea that Feynman should give these lectures himself came from Matthew Sands . The suggestion to record the lectures and use them later as a textbook for similarly oriented courses goes back to the later Stanford professor. However, they underestimated the amount of time and effort involved in editing, which, according to Robert Leighton, took around ten to twenty hours per lecture.
In addition to the lectures, the course consisted of exercises and experiments, which are not included in the books. But they were also published in parts.
It was reported that, on the one hand, many of the students surrendered to the demanding trains of thought and tasks and increasingly stayed away from the lectures, but that Feynman could not notice any decrease in the audience, because more and more older physicists came to get away from the content and form rousing and unconventional presentation of their subject.
content
Volume I: Mainly mechanics, radiation, heat
The first volume (original title: Vol. I, Mainly mechanics, radiation, and heat ) includes the lectures of the first two semesters. After a general introduction to physics (such as time , speed or probability ), Feynman goes into the various aspects of mechanics , which takes up a large part of the volume. He then devotes himself to optics (such as interference and polarization , color vision and optics of the human eye), treats the theory of relativity including the radiation of an accelerated electrical charge and finally gives a short introduction to thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, including Brownian motion and irreversibility as well a brief introduction to probability theory. Vibration phenomena, the wave equation in different areas of application (water waves, acoustics) and the relationship between symmetries and conservation laws are also dealt with in detail. Feynman also gives a brief introduction to quantum theory.
Volume II: Electromagnetism and the Structure of Matter
The second volume (original title: Vol. II, Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter ) contains the lectures of the third semester and thus a comprehensive consideration of electricity and magnetism . At the same time, an introduction to vector analysis and tensor calculus is given and especially waveguides, particle accelerators, atmospheric electricity (lightning) and crystal lattices are dealt with. In addition, continuum mechanics (elasticity theory and hydrodynamics) are treated. Electromagnetic radiation phenomena and optics were also dealt with in the first volume. Chapter 42 gives a brief introduction to general relativity .
Volume III: Quantum Mechanics
The final third volume (original title: Vol III, Quantum Mechanics ) gives an introduction to quantum mechanics. Among other things, Feynman deals with spin , two-state systems (with the maser as an application example) and wave functions . The last chapter of the volume contains the text version of a seminar that deals with the Josephson effect of superconductivity as a macroscopic quantum phenomenon using the Schrödinger equation . Applications in solid state physics (band structure) and semiconductors are also covered. A peculiarity (at that time) of Feynman's treatment of quantum mechanics is his consistent use of the Bra-Ket formalism by Paul Dirac .
chapter
According to the bilingual German-English edition (Oldenbourg / Addison-Wesley 1973).
Volume 1-1:
- 1 atoms in motion
- 2 basic physics
- 3 The relationship of physics to the other sciences
- 4 Conservation of Energy
- 5 time and distance
- 6 probability
- 7 theory of gravity
- 8 movement
- 9 Newton's laws of dynamics
- 10 Conservation of momentum
- 11 vectors
- 12 properties of force
- 13 Work and Potential Energy (Introduction)
- 14 work and potential energy (further)
- 15 Special Theory of Relativity
- 16 Relativistic Energy and Momentum
- 17 spacetime
- 18 Rotation in two dimensions
- 19 center of mass; Law of inertia
- 20 Rotation in space
- 21 The harmonic oscillator
- 22 algebra
- 23 Response
- 24 settling processes
- 25 Linear Systems and Overview
Volume 1-2
- 26 Optics: the principle of the shortest possible time
- 27 Geometric optics
- 28 Electromagnetic Radiation
- 29 interference
- 30 diffraction
- 31 The origin of the refractive index
- 32 Radiation attenuation, light scattering
- 33 polarization
- 34 Relativistic radiation effects
- 35 color vision
- 36 Mechanism of vision
- 37 Quantum Behavior
- 38 The relationship between the wave and particle image
- 39 The kinetic gas theory
- 40 The principles of statistical mechanics
- 41 Brownian motion
- 42 Applications of Kinetic Theory
- 43 diffusion
- 44 The laws of thermodynamics
- 45 Explanations of Thermodynamics
- 46 ratchet and ratchet
- 47 sound. The wave equation
- 48 beats
- 49 waveforms
- 50 harmonics
- 51 waves
- 52 The symmetry in physical laws
Volume 2-1:
- 1 electromagnetism
- 2 vector analysis
- 3 The integral theorems of vector analysis
- 4 electrostatics
- 5 Application of Gauss's Law
- 6 The electric field in individual cases
- 7 The electric field in individual cases (continued)
- 8 Electrostatic Energy
- 9 Electricity in the atmosphere
- 10 dielectrics
- 11 Processes inside dielectrics
- 12 Electrostatic Analogies
- 13 magnetostatics
- 14 The magnetic field in individual cases
- 15 The vector potential
- 16 Induced Currents
- 17 The Laws of Induction
- 18 The Maxwell equations
- 19 The principle of the smallest effect
- 20 Solutions of Maxwell's equations in empty space
- 21 Solutions of Maxwell's equations in the presence of currents and charges
Volume 2-2
- 22 AC circuits
- 23 cavity resonators
- 24 waveguides
- 25 Electrodynamics in Relativistic Notation
- 26 Lorentz transformation of the fields
- 27 Energy and momentum of the electromagnetic field
- 28 Electromagnetic mass
- 29 Movement of charges in electric and magnetic fields
- 30 Inner Geometry of Crystals
- 31 tensors
- 32 The index of refraction of dense materials
- 33 Reflection at interfaces
- 34 The magnetism of matter
- 35 Paramagnetism and Magnetic Resonance
- 36 Ferromagnetism
- 37 Magnetic Materials
- 38 elasticity
- 39 Elastic materials
- 40 The flow of dry water
- 41 The flow of wet water
- 42 The curved space
Volume 3;
- 1 quantum behavior
- 2 The relationships between the wave and the particle image
- 3 probability amplitudes
- 4 identical particles
- 5 spin 1
- 6 spin 1/2
- 7 The time dependence of the amplitudes
- 8 The Hamilton matrix
- 9 The ammonia laser
- 10 Other two-state systems
- 11 Other two-state systems
- 12 The hyperfine splitting in hydrogen
- 13 Spread in the crystal lattice
- 14 semiconductors
- 15 The approximation of independent particles
- 16 The position dependence of the amplitudes
- 17 Symmetries and Conservation Laws
- 18 angular momentum
- 19 The hydrogen atom and the periodic table
- 20 operators
- 21 The Schrödinger equation in a classical context
- epilogue
expenditure
Original edition
- Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands: The Feynman Lectures on Physics , Addison-Wesley, Vol. 1,2, 1964, Vol. 3, 1965
German editions
- Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands: Lectures on Physics.
- Volume I: Mainly mechanics, radiation, heat. German by Heinz Köhler and Eckhard Schröder, Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1991, 4th edition 2001, ISBN 978-3-486-25680-2 .
- Volume II: Mainly electromagnetism and the structure of matter. German by Marlis Mitter, Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1991, 3rd edition 2001, ISBN 978-3-486-25589-8 .
- Volume III: Quantum Mechanics. German by Henner Wessel. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1991, 4th edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-25134-0 .
(Hardcover with tips on physics at Oldenbourg 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-58989-4 .)
Web links
- Website of the Feynman Lectures with exercises and error list (English)
- Feynman lectures on physics, Volumes I-III in English
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands: Lectures on Physics. Volume I: Mainly mechanics, radiation, heat. Oldenbourg 1991, pp. 1-4.
- ↑ "[...] he developed the Feynman Lectures on Physics, which have sold over a million copies and are still widely read today." In: Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication. Sage Pubn Inc, 2010, p. 299 ( google books ).
- ↑ According to the official website (accessed in September 2019) at Caltech, the English edition alone sold over 1.5 million copies and the Russian edition sold over 1 million copies.
- ↑ Six physical finger exercises (Six easy pieces) from Volume 1 contains Chapters 1 (Atoms in motion), 2 (Basic physics), 3 (Relationship of physics to other sciences), 7 (The theory of gravity), 10 (Conservation of energy), 37 ( Quantum behavior), Six not so easy pieces contains chapters 11 (vectors), 52 (symmetry in physical laws), 15 (special relativity), 16 (relativistic energy and momentum), 17 (spacetime), and from volume 2 das last chapter The curved space .
- ^ A b c Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands: lectures on physics. Volume I: Mainly mechanics, radiation, heat. Oldenbourg 1991, pp. 5-7
- ↑ Feynman, Michael Gottlieb, Ralph Leighton Feynman's Tips on Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures on Physics. Addison-Wesley, 2006, ISBN 0-8053-9063-4 .
- ^ Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, Matthew Sands: Lectures on Physics. Volume II: Mainly electromagnetism and the structure of matter. Oldenbourg 1991, pp. 9-10