Does anyone know of an OA thermodynamics book that would be suitable for a one-semester, early undergrad course on the subject? Something comparable in scope/level to, e.g., Finn's Thermal Physics: thermodynamic potentials, magnetic work, at least some calculation of microcanonical and canonical probabilities, etc.

This textbook seems OK for what it does cover, but it doesn't go far enough:

https://openstax.org/details/books/university-physics-volume-2

And David Tong's lecture notes presume that the students have already had the kind of class I'm thinking about:

https://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/statphys.html

What is there in the middle?

#physics

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... Another "does this book exist" question: Is there an OA textbook suitable for a one-semester course on special relativity? Again, OpenStax provides an example that seems fine as far as it goes but that only goes partway:

https://openstax.org/details/books/university-physics-volume-3

What covers Minkowski spacetime, the energy-momentum relation, maybe a little about how "force" works in SR... Is there an open-access equivalent to Anthony French's text from back in the day when I was young?

#physics

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OpenStax offers free college textbooks for all types of students, making education accessible & affordable for everyone. Browse our list of available subjects!

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Kicking Erwin Schrödinger out of my idols. Not because he chose a cat for his thought experiment, but because of one thing I learnt: he sexually abused children and kept a diary about it. 🤮 Src: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger#Sexual_abuse

#schrodinger #quantum #physics

I made a post on my (rarely used) blog thinking about my pursuit of higher mathematics and about how/where to apply for grad schools. I would love some advice from those who have pursued their love for Mathematics and it's application in other fields in grad school! I have some concerns and I feel very stuck.

https://freddy.us/thoughts/2023/10/06/thinking-about-grad-school.html

#Math #Mathematics #Mathstodon #Physics #ComputerScience #GradSchool #PhD #Theory #GetFediHired