Talk:Physics Study Guide

Definition Box
In a few sections a box of definitions seems to be useful so there should probably be a universal style for the box Template:PSG/def here's an example of the usage

Variable Box
In a few sections a box of variable usage explanations seems to be useful so there should probably be a universal style for the box Template:PSG/var here's an example of the usage

Cover Art Needed
This book has ben cited a couple times as an exemplary book and yet we don't have any cover art. Msmithma 22:16, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

TOC template
The template should be placed at the bottom of pages

Collaboration
I wanted to get hold of Karl Wick but I couldn't find an email address - so I am going out on a limb here. I believe we can have a mutually beneficial collaboration. My name is Mark Horner and I started the Free High School Science Texts project. The PR homepage is http://www.nongnu.org/fhsst and our project admin is done through http://savannah.gnu.org . We are going to release our books under GFDL and we'd like to put them on the web. We have much content in Maths, Physics and Chemisty but we are looking for people to help us finish them off. We are past the 1/2 mark but still need help.

All my details are on the project page - please contact me if you are interested.


 * This sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship. You should have recieved my email by now, lets chat on my talk page. - Karl Wick

What counts as nonessential?


 * You ask a question that deserves an honest answer. To me, the "essentials" include everything that I needed to know to get a passing grade in a pre-med Physics class.


 * Aha! You're revealing your biases! The reason for learning physics isn't to understand nature, but to get a passing grade!


 * True, there's the ultimate goal as well as the more immediate one.


 * Perhaps a more meaningful description of nonessential would be: extended detailed background. My goal in starting this study guide is to draw attention to the central concepts of introductory physics that are easily lost in the hundreds of pages of text in a typical textbook.


 * Often the biggest stumbling block or time-waster in learning a new topic is the terminology. In physics, add in the equations. This guide is intended to bring a spotlight on the equations and terms and give straitforward exlanatinons to each concept. Beyond this we can link to more in-depth material for further study.


 * --Karl Wick

Equations, equations, and equations, and not even a single overview or explanation of the concepts...


 * Would that mean we should move towards adding overviews? Explanations (if included) should be kept short.  This is, after all, a study guide, not a complete rehash of a Freshman-level Physics book.  Overviews should probably be kept down to maybe basic discourse about the use of such equations (after all, if this is a study guide, I wager it would be helpful to have an idea to help people with "word problems"...)


 * And how deep into each level should we go? Calculus based for everything?  Deep sub-topics into quantum equations, etc? -- Pipian


 * By just presenting equations with no explanation on what they mean, you're just encouraging rote memorization with no understanding...


 * I agree on that point, which is why I do think that SOME explanation is needed, but I do not believe that we need a textbook-like explanation ("Free-fall acceleration is acceleration due to gravity. Some examples of this acceleration can be seen when dropping objects from a height, such as an apple from your hand.  It does, however, have acceleration along the y-axis...") but rather a simple one ("Free-fall acceleration is vertical acceleration thanks to the force of earth's gravity.  It is equal to g, or 9.8 m/s^2") -- 209.39.26.2


 * I'm all into some brief explanations. My goal is to help students learn the material in the quickest and least painful way possible.


 * About the Calculus, let that be another book or special subpages of this one. I have not taken any calc-based physics and it is not necessary for pre-meds, so I want to keep that separate. --Karl Wick


 * I think it would be a good idea to include it, but I think a separate section would probably be a good idea as well (Kinda like how you've partially separated out the advanced work information). An appendix perhaps?  ("A Calculus-Based Approach"?)


 * Also, I think I will rework the formulae in TeX format --Pipian


 * I change my earlier stance and now favor including the calculus-based material. Tex stuff sounds great if you like, I have not familiarized myself with how to write that stuff yet. --Karl Wick


 * Yeah, I was about to say that I was going to add such to the Kinematics section first. Now that you've said it's OK, I'll go right ahead and do that.  Shouldn't be that hard to do it inline.  Only thing is that the TeX outputs on a white background, so we will have to accommodate in terms of the tables. I'll go ahead and alter the Kinematics page first though to give you a taste.  I'll add some more explanation to it later.  Also, because I have a minor qualm with using d for displacement, favoring instead &Delta;x (That's what I've read in every physics book that I've read), which also makes sense in the calculus-context (dx/dt), I'm going to switch those "d"s to "&Delta;x"s. --Pipian


 * OK Karl Wick


 * Take a look. That's how I envision the pages looking (aside from adding a little explanation) -- Pipian


 * I like how the formatting looks under Tex. I'd like to keep everything as simple as possible. Right now I get a bit of a headache looking at all of the equations and for ME it is a bit overwhelming, and I think that it will be even more so for someone just getting into the subject. If possible I'd like to relegate all of the calc-based stuff to separate spots where it will not distract those who dont need it. One solution is for the reader to just ignore it but I'd rather not make him go thru all of that work. The calc stuff can be on a different page or on the same page further down. We could link to each more advanced page beneath the corresponding, simpler treatment. My whole goal in starting this book was to make the subject as approachable to a novice as possible and to eliminate averything that may distract him. My intent is that adding additional stuff is material for another, different book. --Karl Wick


 * OK, let me change my mind a bit again. I dont like the formatting in Tex so much cuz it loses the color that sets the equations apart, and the type is in a different font. I think yours and my goals may be different for the project. Mine include printing up copies of this material to sell on campus when I have all of the sections done. Maybe it would be better if you did a paralell version where you copied all of the material you wanted from here but didnt implement the pseudo-drastic changes you propose .. or do whatever you want to do on separate pages linked off of the existing pages. Talk to me cuz I know you will probably be mad/exasperated/something negative about what I am saying. --Karl Wick


 * The equations should still be fairly noticeable, as they are inscribed in boxes (you could dash them or do various other things instead of tinting the insides). Feel free to change it back if you like, but I believe that it would be best to keep it as it is (since it would be more accurate to what people will see in their books, and calculus equations are more difficult to display accurately without the help of TeX).  It would be nice if TeX would place it on the colored background, but this, unfortunately, does not seem to be possible.  As for Calculus, it would be convenient if it were at the bottom of the same page, rather than on a different page.  I don't mind separating it however. -- Pipian


 * I also think it would be beneficial to arrange it as kinematics, forces, momentum, work/energy (should be one section), circular motion, fluids, fields, gravity, waves/sound (should be one section), thermodynamics, electromagnetism, optics, modern (quantum/atomic) physics as that is a more natural way to learn physics. Each builds on the previous up to fields, and it is confusing to think about energy in the gravity chapter when it has not been mentioned in the study guide.  Everything after gravity is more or less up for grabs as to location, though modern physics should be last. -- Pipian


 * So where do we stand on forthcoming development of this text? Would it seriously be better if I split off? (I also tested making the borders thicker on Kinematics, if it looks alright) -- Pipian

There is some duplicated content in the Physics Exercises book I placed a wiki-link in the apedicies to that book as I figured that worked problems would be a good resource. --Mart&iacute;n S-M

After looking at the Manual of Style I realized the book needs a Physics Study Guide/Cover page and I made it and moved all the relavent information to that page from the table of contents. Also I am in the process of removing all the Category:Physics links from the sub-pages. I also moved the detailed infoamtion on changes on the Author page to the disscussion page leaving only the names of authors on the Physics Study Guide/Authors page. I created the subcategory Category:Physics Study Guide--Mart&iacute;n S-M Oct, 20, 2006

I am at a small college in Florida and as an assignment my students have created Wiki pages for Introductory Physics. Feel free to borrow freely from it here. -- S. Weppner

Outlines
Those box outlines are a bit too fat. I thought you had decided not to develop a different book but maybe we could just work on the same one together. If I want to publish my own version later I can just rework it to what I had originally in mind. Also notice that I restructured the list of topics as it seemed you had suggested, please modify as you see fit. --Karl Wick


 * Alright. I slimmed those down to 3px instead of 4px.  If you want, I'll take them to 2px.  As for the topic list, I re-arranged it slightly to put it in a (seemingly) better order.  If you disagree, let me know. -- Pipian

Tracking Changes

 * Karl Wick
 * This book initiated on 10/29/03
 * Adon Metcalfe
 * Added images throughout on 6/18/04
 * Brendan Abbott
 * Minor update to Electronics page on 10/13/04
 * Tristan Sabel
 * Several additions to Physical Constants page on 3/15/05
 * Creation of Approximate Coefficients of Friction page on 3/15/05
 * Adon Metcalfe
 * Definition fix on sound page on 3/27/05
 * Fromund Hock
 * Some changes on light on 8/1/05
 * Martin Smith-Martinez
 * Suggested that the Physics Exercises be merged into the guide 9/06
 * Updated the Physical Constants page
 * Added some images, changed others to thumbnails to the Linear motion and Vectors and Scalras pages Oct 20, 2006
 * Did some migration of boxed equations into the Template:PSG/eq 19:29, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Created the PSG/var and PSG/def templates and made entries in the Style Guide discussion and migrated the variable and definitions on the Forces page into the template format 07:22, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Print version
Can anyone create a printable version of the entire book? I have tried, but can't seem to get it to work properly.

Yes, a print (PDF)version would be really useful. BTW, what does it take to create a PDF? I have a dial-up access and cannot be of much use here but I hope someone else will do the good work. Kushal_one (on wikipedia)

Freshman?
This book is apparently on the level of Freshman? To what universal stage/degree does that correspond?Adriaan90 (talk) 14:22, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned page
Physics Study Guide/Quantum Mechanics is not linked to by this book. If you like it, please link to it. Otherwise, you could merge the content and label it with or mark it with. -- Adrignola talk contribs 13:12, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

The Question Bank
has anyone noticed the question bank that I have added to the Physics Study Guide? That'll be a great way to add content to the textbook. Ofcourse, once the contributors start adding explanations, we will know how to write the guide better!