E-Book Overview
This new volume contains four previously unpublished lectures that Feynman gave to students preparing for exams. With characteristic flair, insight and humor, Feynman discusses topics students struggle with and offers valuable tips on solving physics problems. An illuminating memoir by Matthew Sands — who originally conceived The Feynman Lectures on Physics — gives a fascinating insight into the history of Feynman’s lecture series and the books that followed. This book is rounded off by relevant exercises and answers by R. B. Leighton and R. E. Vogt, originally developed to accompany the Lectures on Physics.
E-Book Content
' e nman s
A Problem-Solving Supplement to The Feynman Lectures on Physics
Richard P. Feynman Michael A. Gottlieb Ralph Leighton With a Memoir by Matthew Sands Exercises and Answers by Robert B. Leighton and Rochus E. Vogt
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Editor-in-Chief: Adam Black Development Associate: Brad Patterson Senior Marketing Manager: Christy Lawrence Managing Editor: Erin Gregg Production Supervisor: Shannon Tozier Production Management and Composition: WestWords, Inc. Illustration: Athertoncustoms Manufacturing Buyer: Michael Early Printer and Binder: Courier Text Designer: Lisa Devenish Cover Designer: Yvo Riezebos Design Cover Credit: Feynman circa 1962, (photographer unknown) courtesy of Ralph Leighton Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Feynman, Richard Phillips. Feynman's tips on physics : a problem-solving supplement to the Feynman lec tures on physics I Richard P. Feynman, Michael A. Gottlieb, and Ralph Leighton; with a memoir by Matthew Sands; exercises and answers by Robert B. Leighton and Rochus E. Vogt. p. em. Includes index. ISBN 0-8053-9063-4 (pbk.) 1. Physics. 2. Physics-Problems, exercises, etc. I. Gottlieb, Michael A. II. Leighton, Ralph. III. Sands, Matthew L. (Matthew Linzee). IV. Leighton, Robert B. V. Vogt, Rochus E. V I. Feynman, Richard Phillips. Feynman lectures on physics. V II. Title. QC23.F47 1989 Suppl. 530'.076-dc22 2005013077 ISBN 0-8053-9063-4 Copyright © 2006 Michelle Feynman, Carl Feynman, Michael Gottlieb, and Ralph Leighton. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, 1900 E. Lake Ave., Glenview, IL 60025. For information regarding permissions, call (847) 486-2635. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. W here those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps.
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Foreword
At a lonely border post high on the Himalayan frontier, Ramaswamy Balasubramanian peered through his binoculars at the People's Liberation Army soldiers stationed in Tibet-who were peering through their scopes back at him. Tensions between India and China had been high for several years since 1962, when the two countries traded shots across their disputed border. The PLA soldiers, knowing they were being watched, taunted Balasubramanian and his fellow Indian soldiers by shaking, defiantly, high in the air, their pocket-sized, bright-red copies of Quotations from Chairman Mao-better known in the West as "Mao's Little Red Book." Balasubramanian