"A neutron walks into a bar and asks how much for a drink. The barman replies, for you no charge"
- Dr. Sheldon Cooper
So physics has always been the subject which usually binds most of us with the science, since being an engineer Biology is not our cup of tea and who wants to mug up all those chemical reactions and formulas in Chemistry, right?
| Well if you really want to know what physics is, it may be defined as: General program that focuses on the scientific study of matter and energy, and the formulation and testing of the laws governing the behavior of the matter-energy continuum. Includes instruction in classical and modern physics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, mechanics, wave properties, nuclear processes, relativity and quantum theory, quantitative methods, and laboratory methods. |
However, in the B.Tech First year, what we are suppose to study is as follows:
SEMESTER I:
UNIT I: Relativity: Review of concepts of frames of reference and Galilean transformation equation , Michelson – Morley experiment and its implications, Einstein’s special theory of relativity, Lorentz transformation equations, Law of addition of velocities, Mass variation with velocity, Concept of energy and momentum, Mass energy relation.
UNIT II: Oscillations, waves: Damped and forced oscillations, Resonance (amplitude and power), Q – factor, Sharpness of resonance, Equations of longitudinal and transverse waves and their solutions, Impudence, Reflection and transmission of waves at a boundary, Impudence matching between two medium.
UNIT III: Physical optics: Interference by division of wave front and amplitude, Multiple beam interference and Fabry-Perot interferometer, Fresnel diffraction through a straight edge, Frannhoffer diffraction, Zone plate, single slit and N-slit / grating, Resolving power of telescope, prism and grating Polarization by reflection and by transmission, Brewster’s law, Double refraction, elliptically and circularly polarized light, Nichol prism, Quarter and half wave plates.
UNIT IV: Optical Instruments: Cardinal points of co-axial lens systems, spherical and chromatic aberrations and their removal, Huygens and Ramsden’s eyepiece.
UNIT V: Laser optics: Coherence and coherent properties of laser beams, Brief working principal of lasers, Spontaneous and stimulated emission, Einstein’s co-efficient, Ruby laser, He-Ne laser. Optical Fiber: Classification of optical fibers, Refractive index profile, Core cladding refractive index difference, Numerical aperture of optical fiber, Pulse dispersion in optical fiber (ray theory).
SEMESTER II:
UNIT I:
Quantum Physics: Failure of classical physics ,Compton effect , Pair production de-broglie relation, wave function, Probability density, Schrodinger wave equation operators, expection values and exigent value equation, particle in a box, simple harmonic oscillator problem, concept
of degeneracy.
UNIT II:
Classical Statistic: Statistical physics-Microscopic macroscopic systems, concept of phase space
basic postulates of statistical mechanics, Maxwell—Boltzmann distribution law.
UNIT III:
Quantum statistic: Fermi—Dirac and Bose –Einstein Distribution, Fermi- Dirac probability function, Fermi energy level.
UNIT IV:
Nuclear Physics: Nuclear properties, constituent of the nucleus, binding energy, stable nuclei,
radioactive decay law (alpha and beta spectrum), Q-value of nuclear reaction , nuclear models-liquid
drop and shell model, nuclear fission and fusion, elementary ideas of nuclear reactors.
UNIT V:
Electrodynamics: Maxwell’s equations, concept of displacement current, Derivation of wave
equation for plane electromagnetic wave, Pointing vector. Pointing theorem, Energy density,
wave equation in dielectric & conducting media.
With all these interesting topics in your bag, you're definitely going to fall in love with applied physics.
You must have already been warned by your seniors that teachers over here are going to teach nothing and you're suppose to do everything on your own, if you're already in college. Believe me this single line gave me goosebumps when I heard it for the first time. But it's not completly true. Infact there are few teachers who are going to teach well, explaining each and every topic to you. But still, it all depends on your luck which teacher you might get ;-)
So when we bunk classes, miss them or the teacher is too talented that he's not able to explain the topic, books become our savior.
Following are the books suggested by our professors:
SEMESTER I:
TEXT BOOKS:
1. H.J. Pain, ―The Physics of vibrations and waves‖, Wiley.
2. A.P. French, ―Vibrations and waves‖, the M.I.T. Introductory Physics Series.
3. Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman, ―University Physics‖, Addison-Wesley
REFERENCE BOOKS:
1. Authors Beiser, ―Perspective of Modern Physics‖, TMH.
2. A. Ghatak, ―Optics‖
3. A Textbook Of Applied Physics,Part I & II ―A.K. Jha‖ I.K.
SEMESTER II:
TEXT BOOKS:
1. Erwin Kaplan, ―Nuclear Physics‖.
2. Arthur Beiser, ―Perspective of Modern Physics‖.
REFERENCE BOOKS:
1. Griffith, ―Electrodynamics‖.
2. Rangawala & Mahajan, ―Electricity & magnetism‖.
I would personally advice you get A Textbook Of Applied Physics,Part I & II ―A.K. Jha, as it's A.K. Jha has been an ex-Professor at DTU and most of the professor would prefer his books.
Apart from the above reason the book is pretty nice and would help you to score good in exams.
As mentioned above you can also try A. Ghatak's book for optics.
Now, University Physics is a true masterpiece. You can find each and every concept of your syllabus in this books along with there practical application(which majority of the Indian books fail to provide). It can easily be found in library.
Books are the only things which are going to come handy when the exam approach. So choose them wisely. Most of them can be easily found in the library.Just a regular practice would help you to keep up your grades.
Previous questions papers and their solution can be found in the Tests Section.
"I'm not telling you its going to be easy, I'm telling you its going to be worth it."
Good luck !!
