This chapter focuses on the concepts of temperature and heat and also develops some initial ideas for both based on experimental observations. In doing so, the concept of equilibrium is discussed. The chapter then discusses the zeroth law of thermodynamics and finishes up on the concept of phase change (solidification, evaporation, etc.). The discussion on phase change leads to the idea that the current version of heat used in this chapter needs to be modified in order to account for situations that do not involve a temperature change.

Stationary charges give rise to electric fields. Moving charges give rise to magnetic fields. In this chapter, we explore how this comes about, starting with currents in wires which give rise to a magnetic field wrapping the wire.

In this chapter, we rewrite the Maxwell equations yet again, this time in the language of actions and Lagrangians that we introduced in the first book in this series. This provides many new perspectives on electromagnetism. Among the pay-offs are a deeper understanding, via Noether’s theorem, of the energy and momentum carried by electromagnetism fields. This will also allow us to explore a number of deeper ideas, including superconductivity, the Higgs mechanism, and topological insulators.

Take an electric charge and shake it and it will produce light. The purpose of this chapter is to explain how this works.

There are four forces in our universe. Two act only at the very smallest scales and one only at the very biggest. For everything inbetween, there is electromagnetism. The theory of electromagnetism is described by four gloriously simple and beautiful vector calculus equations known as the Maxwell equations. These are the first genuinely fundamental equations that we meet in our physics education and they survive, essentially unchanged, in our best modern theories of physics. They also serve as a blueprint for what subsequent laws of physics look like.

This textbook takes us on a tour of the Maxwell equations and their many solutions. It starts with the basics of electric and magnetic phenomena and explains how their unification results in waves that we call light. It then describes more advanced topics such as superconductors, monopoles, radiation, and electromagnetism in matter. The book concludes with a detailed review of the mathematics of vector calculus.

Newtons laws of motion are not the last word in classical mechanics. In the 250 years after Newton, physicists and mathematicians found ways to reformulate classical mechanics, providing powerful tools to solve problems but, equally as importantly, giving us a new perspective on the laws that govern our universe. This chapter takes the first step in this direction. We will introduce the wonderful principle of least action, a simple rule that underlies all known laws of physics. This will give us new insights, not least the wonderful Noethers theorem, relating symmetries to conservation laws.

The fundamentals of electromagnetism are simple. Moving electric charges set up electric and magnetic fields. In turn, these fields make the charges move. This dance between charges and fields is described by the Maxwell equations. This brief chapter describes how this comes about. It is, in a sense, everything you need to know about electromagnetism, enshrined in these simple equations. The rest of the book is mere commentary.

The laws of classical mechanics are valid in so-called inertial frames. Roughly speaking, these are frames that are at rest. But what if you, one day, find yourself in a frame that is not in- ertial? For example, suppose that every 24 hours you happen to spin around an axis which is 2500 miles away. What would you feel? Or what if every year you spin around an axis 36 million miles away? Would that have any effect on your everyday life? In this chapter, we describe what happens if you sit in a rotating reference frame and the effects of the resulting centrifugal and Coriolis forces.

To understand what the Maxwell equations are telling us, it’s useful to dissect them piece by piece. The simplest piece comes from looking at stationary electric charges and how they give rise to electric fields. A consequence of this is the Coulomb force law between charges. This, and much more, will be described in this chapter.