Intro Physics Best textbook for properties of matter and fluid mechanics

AI Thread Summary
For studying properties of matter, particularly elasticity, and fluid mechanics, it's suggested to explore textbooks used in mechanical engineering courses, as these subjects are often covered in that discipline. Recommended resources include "Transport Phenomena" by Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot for a comprehensive understanding, and "Landau and Lifshitz" volumes 6 and 7 for a theoretical physics perspective, although they may be dense for undergraduates. For fluid mechanics, Kundu and Cohen's book is noted as excellent, while "Wave Motion" by Billingham and King is also suggested for advanced students. The discussion emphasizes the importance of checking university course listings for relevant textbooks and suggests looking at other universities' resources if access is limited. Overall, finding the right textbook will depend on the specific focus and level of understanding desired in these subjects.
CurioPhysicist
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I am a First Year Undergraduate Physics student. Which will be the best textbook for me to study properties of matter (Elasticity) and fluid mechanics? I prefer a better theoretical understanding.
 
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Hello @CurioPhysicist , :welcome: !

Properties of matter is a bit too broad a subject for me... it excludes very little :smile: ##-## so much to choose from.

I'm a physicist but took a chemical engineering course later on. There I bumped into Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot : transport phenomena.
 
BvU said:
Hello @CurioPhysicist , :welcome: !

Properties of matter is a bit too broad a subject for me... it excludes very little :smile: ##-## so much to choose from.

I'm a physicist but took a chemical engineering course later on. There I bumped into Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot : transport phenomena.
Actually, I mean elasticity..
 
I see. Good you edited your post: now it's a narrow subject indeed :wink: .
Downside is that in the ordinary physics curriculum there isn't much time spent on elasticity. I don't recall any at all. Perhaps mechanical engineering courses have more (metallurgy, for instance).
Don't know of a decent textbook.
 
BvU said:
I see. Good you edited your post: now it's a narrow subject indeed :wink: .
Downside is that in the ordinary physics curriculum there isn't much time spent on elasticity. I don't recall any at all. Perhaps mechanical engineering courses have more (metallurgy, for instance).
Don't know of a decent textbook.

Oh 🥺
 
CurioPhysicist said:
Which will be the best textbook for me to study properties of matter (Elasticity) and fluid mechanics?
Yeah, elasticity would typically be covered in ME courses and textbooks. Other properties of matter would be in Materials Science textbooks. Have a look in your class listings to see what textbooks are required for the introductory courses for those subjects, and then look through them at your university library (assuming it's open right now).

Fluid mechanics is a different animal, but again I would look to see what introductory courses are offered at your uni and look at those textbooks. Paging @boneh3ad :smile:
 
berkeman said:
Yeah, elasticity would typically be covered in ME courses and textbooks. Other properties of matter would be in Materials Science textbooks. Have a look in your class listings to see what textbooks are required for the introductory courses for those subjects, and then look through them at your university library (assuming it's open right now).

Fluid mechanics is a different animal, but again I would look to see what introductory courses are offered at your uni and look at those textbooks. Paging @boneh3ad :smile:

My Uni handbook only suggest Physics by HRK for Properties of Matter
 
CurioPhysicist said:
My Uni handbook only suggest Physics by HRK for Properties of Matter
For which subject? What does the section on Mechanical Engineering have as a textbook for the first course on Material Science?
 
berkeman said:
For which subject? What does the section on Mechanical Engineering have as a textbook for the first course on Material Science?

I am studying in Physics. The name of the course is Properties of Matter, Vibration and Waves
 
  • #10
berkeman said:
What does the section on Mechanical Engineering have as a textbook for the first course on Material Science?
 
  • #11
Sorry, I don't have a course called Material Science.
 
  • #12
But your university does, under the ME department probably. You asked for textbooks in that subject.
 
  • #13
berkeman said:
But your university does, under the ME department probably. You asked for textbooks in that subject.
Oh, I see. But, I don't have reach to the handbook of that Department.
 
  • #14
Really? Such information is usually online as well as in other places.
 
  • #15
berkeman said:
Really? Such information is usually online as well as in other places.
My University website doesn't.
 
  • #16
Well then maybe try searching at other universities to see what they use. I clicked into my old uni website, and found this:

https://registrar.ucdavis.edu/registration/schedule/class-search

1610458937107.png
 
  • #17
I love Elasticity, Fracture and Flow by Jaeger. Check out Tritton for fluids.
 
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  • #18
I don't honestly know what to suggest form an undergraduate physics standpoint. Landau and Lifshitz certainly have volumes on both of these topics that come from a physics perspective (Volumes 6 and 7 specifically), but they are going to be pretty dense for an undergraduate.

Most of the time fluid mechanics and elasticity are covered by engineering departments in modern education systems, but the issue there is that they generally lead off with fairly applied treatments of the topic and then circle back around to the more heavy theoretical approaches in graduate school. Basically, any mechanical engineering textbook on fluid mechanics is going to spend a lot of time on things like hydrostatics and pipe flows and not so much on potential theory and streamfunctions. Landau and Lifshitz may still be your best bet if you want straight theory from a physics angle.
 
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  • #19
CurioPhysicist said:
I am studying in Physics. The name of the course is Properties of Matter, Vibration and Waves
Just to be clear, is this a course that you will be taking soon? If so, what are the math and physics prerequisites for the class? Without that information it is impossible for us to recommend a relevant resource. If not, then we would need to know what physics and math you have already learned.

jason
 
  • #20
jasonRF said:
Just to be clear, is this a course that you will be taking soon? If so, what are the math and physics prerequisites for the class? Without that information it is impossible for us to recommend a relevant resource. If not, then we would need to know what physics and math you have already learned.

jason

This course is in the first year second semester. In first semester, we were taught Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Differential Equations (ordinary) and Matrices, Calculus.
 
  • #21
From another thread: I bumped into an introductory https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Puj8xradXqxXwHWFbg1clkXsBf8kulWe/view?usp=sharing covering both elastcity and fluid mechanics plus some other stuff, all in just 62 pages :smile: !

With a caveat from @Hamiltonian299792458
and one from me as well (even as a non-native english reader): it's riddled with language and spelling errors :rolleyes:
 
  • #22
Landau and Lifshitz vol. 6+7, but it's graduate level.
 
  • #23
For fluid mechanics the book of Kundu and Cohen is excellent:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/012405935X/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Wave motion of Billingham and King is good (pretty high level though, 'advanced undergraduate' for mathematical students according to the authors):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521634504/?tag=pfamazon01-20

I would bump Transport Phenomena from Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot as well, since it is really excellent, but it is probably not what you are looking for here, it is more about energy transport and mass transport (diffusion, mixing), hence the name.

For elasticity I don't know really, we had a handout at the uni... :)
 
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  • #24
boneh3ad said:
I don't honestly know what to suggest form an undergraduate physics standpoint. Landau and Lifshitz certainly have volumes on both of these topics that come from a physics perspective (Volumes 6 and 7 specifically), but they are going to be pretty dense for an undergraduate.

Most of the time fluid mechanics and elasticity are covered by engineering departments in modern education systems, but the issue there is that they generally lead off with fairly applied treatments of the topic and then circle back around to the more heavy theoretical approaches in graduate school. Basically, any mechanical engineering textbook on fluid mechanics is going to spend a lot of time on things like hydrostatics and pipe flows and not so much on potential theory and streamfunctions. Landau and Lifshitz may still be your best bet if you want straight theory from a physics angle.
I am actually looking for an advanced fluid mechanics book. Not intro text such as Munson which is a typical engineering book. Also Landau and Lifshitz doesn't do it. Something in the vein of 'Physics of Fluids and Plasmas' by Arnab Rai Choudhuri who derives the hydrodynamic continuum equations by starting with the collisionless Boltzmann equation. But I want something more rigorous. A fluid mechanic equivalent for 'Lagriangian and Hamiltionian Mechanics' by Calkin where you see all the final jigsaw puzzles falling in place. Bonus points for geometrical interpretations.
 
  • #25
Reinhart said:
I am actually looking for an advanced fluid mechanics book. Not intro text such as Munson which is a typical engineering book. Also Landau and Lifshitz doesn't do it. Something in the vein of 'Physics of Fluids and Plasmas' by Arnab Rai Choudhuri who derives the hydrodynamic continuum equations by starting with the collisionless Boltzmann equation. But I want something more rigorous. A fluid mechanic equivalent for 'Lagriangian and Hamiltionian Mechanics' by Calkin where you see all the final jigsaw puzzles falling in place. Bonus points for geometrical interpretations.

EDIT: I moved all of this response to your dedicated thread on this topic.
 

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