Solving Physics Problems: Modern Physics Course Tips

[austim14]

I'm a physics major entering soph yr. in the fall I will be taking a class, modern physics. One thing I really struggled with was problem solving. Is there any books you know where I can get additional practice in solving problems that would be offered on this course? All I can find are Newtonian based word problems

 

[Student100]

I'm a physics major entering soph yr. in the fall I will be taking a class, modern physics. One thing I really struggled with was problem solving. Is there any books you know where I can get additional practice in solving problems that would be offered on this course? All I can find are Newtonian based word problems

How did you make it through Mechanics and E&M if you can't problem solve? :P I think you might be underestimating your abilities here.

The best resource to learn problem solving is by solving problems. You could go back through your freshman physics texts and practice the problems in them, seeing as how you should have a pretty good grasp of the concepts.

That or get your modern physics text and go through it, learning concepts then practicing.
Isn’t every physics problem a word problem?

 

[austim14]

How did you make it through Mechanics and E&M if you can't problem solve? :P I think you might be underestimating your abilities here.

The best resource to learn problem solving is by solving problems. You could go back through your freshman physics texts and practice the problems in them, seeing as how you should have a pretty good grasp of the concepts.

That or get your modern physics text and go through it, learning concepts then practicing.
Isn’t every physics problem a word problem?

What I meant to say is that I need extra problems to study from, the book we used last year did not have solutions to problems, and it was a little difficult because I was never sure if they were right. My prof wasn't much help either

 

[Student100]

What I meant to say is that I need extra problems to study from, the book we used last year did not have solutions to problems, and it was a little difficult because I was never sure if they were right. My prof wasn't much help either

Okay, Try this. The problems in this text are difficult (even purposely obscure), and there is often a bit of trickery needed to find the solution, but I think about ~25% of the problems the solution is included and it might help you some. You should be at a level now were you can start to solve them.


There is also this :Here
Some people like these lines of books, others hate them. I personally like them, but it can get hard on the eyes after a while. You can also get it for a penny + shipping.