PREFACE Thetwovolumesofthe"FundamentalsofPhysics" , publishedin twoeditions,havebeentranslatedintoPolish andEnglishandhavegainedpopularityamongseniorform studentsofsecondaryschoolswherephysicsisstudiedatan advancedlevel,amongcollegefreshmenandamonginstruc tors andteachersofphysics.Atthesametime,reviewsand numerouslettersfromreadershavestressedtheneedfor a systemofproblems adaptedtothetheoreticalmaterial containedinthebookwhichwouldenablethereaderto consolidate andtocheckhisknowledgeofthematerialstud ied,andtodevelopskillsinthecreativeapplicationofthe theoryto specificphysicalproblems. ,Thisbook offersthereaderover750problemsconcerning thesame subjectmatteras istreatedinthetwovolumesof the"FundamentalsofPhysics".Theorderofpresentationof thetheoreticalmaterialis alsothesame. Theavailabilityof agreatnumberofproblembooksbased onthetraditionalschoolphysicscurriculumpromptedus toenlargethosesectionswhichare absentfromtraditional problembooks,namelythedynamicsof arotatingrigidbody, theelementsof thetheoryofrelativityand ofquantumand statisticalphysics,ofsolid statephysics,waveoptics,atom ICandnuclearphysics,etc.Problemsdealingwithastrophys ics illustratetheapplicationofthelaws ofphysicsto ce lestialbodies. The bookcontainsa fewproblemsrequiringelementary skillindifferentiatingandintegrating,aswellas someprob lems to besolved withtheaid ofnumericalmethods, which nowadaysarebeingincreasinglyused. B. M.YavorskyandA. A.Pinsky.Fundamentals0/Physics, v.IandII,MirPublishers,Moscow, 1975.
6Preface As well asthepracticeexercisesthereare somerather sophisticatedproblemsrequiringa deepknowledgeofthe theory. Most oftheproblemsareprovided withsufficientlyde tailedsolutions. Whetheraproblembookshouldbeprovided withdetailed solutions,oronlytheanswersshouldbesupplied,is a con troversialquestion.True, thetemptationto lookintoa ready madesolutionisquitestrong.Howeverwe hope thatthereaderwantstolearnto solvetheproblemshimself, and so hewill turnto readthesolutionsonlyinextreme circumstances.On theotherhand,havinginmindthatthe majorityofreaderswillworkwiththebook ontheirown, we feelobligedto offer themhelpwhentheyareunableto cope withaproblem.Notethatthesolutionsprovidedarenot alwaystheonlyonespossible.Weshallbegratefultoany readerwhosuggestsmoreelegantororiginalsolutions. Reference datarequiredforthesolutionoftheproblems ispresentedin theappendices.Theyaugmentthedatacon tainedin thecorrespondingchaptersoftheseries"Funda mentalsofPhysics". Thecollectionofproblemsmay serve as an aid for students preparingforexaminationsinphysics.Itmaybe used in physico mathematicalschools or forextra curricularwork inphysics.Theproblemswillbe useful tostudents studying to becomephysicsteachers,tostudentsattechnicalcol leges,andtophysicsteachersinschools,technicalschools andsecondaryvocationalschools. The authorexpresseshissinceregratitudetoProf. N. N. Malov andProf.B. M.Yavorskyandalso to Yu. A.Selesnev,Ya. F.LernerandM. M.Samokhvalov. Their valuableremarksenabledtheauthortomakecorrectionsto themanuscript. A.A.Pinsky