Physics of Continuous Matter: Exotic and Everyday Phenomena in the Macroscopic World
By addebook • Jul 14th, 2008 • Category: Physics •
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Physics of Continuous Matter: Exotic and Everyday Phenomena in the Macroscopic World
Physics of Continuous Matter: Exotic and Everyday Phenomena in the Macroscopic World
By Benny Lautrup
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Number Of Pages: 624
Publication Date: 2004-10
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0750307528
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780750307529
Binding: Paperback
Offering a modern approach to this most classical of subjects, Physics of Continuous Matter is first and foremost an introduction to the basic concepts and phenomenology of continuous systems, and the derivations of the equations of continuum mechanics from Newtonian mechanics. Although many examples, particularly in the earlier chapters, are taken from geophysics and astrophysics, the author places the emphasis frimly on generic methods and applications. Each chapter begins with a soft introduction, placing the discussion within an everyday context, and the level of difficulty then rises steadily, a pattern which is reflected throughout the text as a whole. The necessary mathematical tools are developed in parallel with the physics on a need-to-know basis, an approach that avoids lengthy mathematical preliminaries.
Summary: Incoherent
Rating: 2
This is the only text on continuum physics that I have used, so I cannot compare it to others on that subject specifically, but I can say that this is the worst physics text I have ever encountered. It is next to impossible to actually learn from this book.
Summary: Tour de force and a generic approach
Rating: 5
“Continuum physics describes the physical world on a macroscopic scale”. With this quote at hand the author gives the reader a 600-page tour de force through the underlying principles of continuum physics and it application in geophysics, astrophysics, engineering, biophysics, and nonlinear sciences such as rheology. Subjects taught in engineering classes but rarely make their way to physics classes and vice versa are joined. The book is divided into five chapters on Basic Concepts on Physics (Introduction), Fluids at Rest, Deformable Solids, Basic Hydrodynamics and a section of Special Topics. Within those chapter common knowledge is presented in a straightforward manner but also various side aspects will surprise the reader. For example, the author discusses the “urban myth” of bathtub vortex’, Big Bang and Newton cosmology, and lubrication. The beauty of this approach is that subjects, who belong together or are link to each other, are presented in one generic approach. The condensed presentation of the individual subjects, the introduction of the governing equations as well as numerous figures keep the vast amount of knowledge digestible and accessible. Actually the fact that a lot of equations I normally look up in different textbook, and eventually not finding them, are summarized here qualifies the book as reference. Readers should have a background in continuum mechanics and/or engineering to access the material properly. For basic classes in continuum mechanic the book is suitable as well. The Chapters include sections on continuous matter, space and time, gravity (Introduction), pressure, buoyancy, planet and stars, hydrostatic shapes, surface tension (Fluids at Rest), stress, strain, linear elasticity, solids at rest, computational elastostatics, elastic vibrations (Deformable Solids), fluids in motion, nearly ideal flow, viscosity, plates and pipes, creeping flow, rotating fluids, CFD (Basic Hydrodynamics), global laws of balance, reaction forces and moments, small-amplitude surface waves, jumps and shocks, whirls and vortices, lubrication, boundary layers, subsonic flight, heat, convection and turbulence (Special Topics). A huge collection of related book reviews is online at Applied Rheology - international journal.
Summary: Exotic and Everyday Phenomena in the Macroscopic
Rating: 5
Physics of Continuous Matter: Exotic and Everyday
Phenomena in the Macroscopic World by Benny Lautrup
(610 pages, Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol
and Philadelphia) is a modern, rigorous and
unusually comprehensive introduction into the physics
of continua. The book is structured into 32 chapters,
divided into five parts (i.e., Introduction, Fluids at
rest, Deformable solids, Basic hydrodynamics and
Special topics), addressing both the prevalent
university syllabus and more exotic topics such as
gravity waves, dynamics of vortices, self-similar
boundary layers, subsonic flights, etc. Furthermore,
the book has three appendices dedicated to Newtonian
particle mechanics, curvilinear coordinates and
thermodynamics of ideal gases, and additional material
can be found on the book’s home-page at
http://www.nbi.dk/~lautrup/continuum/. All the above
along with an extensive index and an annotated
bibliography make the book an invaluable tool for both
graduate and under-graduate students.
A common misconception of most physics students is
that physics of continuous matter is a very
mathematical subject. Lautrup’s book, however, gives
an excellent account of all major topics on the
subject starting only from the most elementary
mathematics and introducing the rest on a need-to-know
basis. Most chapters have a light commencement which
appeals to our everyday experience with the
macroscopic world, and then slowly introduce the key
physical concepts. Short historical notes, sketchy
micro-biographies of great scientists, marvelous
graphical side-notes along with a few tables of
constants make the text a gratifying reading. All
chapters end with a few problems some of which are
theoretical side-issues of the main text. Among the
many qualities of this book there are five that
deserve special attention. First, equations are dealt
with in a very scholastic manner, the most important
ones being placed in a box. Second, the author took
great care in marking the sections and the problems
which either fall slightly outside the main line of
the text or they require more advanced mathematics.
Third, there are quite a number of footnotes which
give valuable up-to-date references to many of the
subjects dealt with in the main text. This particular
feature makes it perfect for readers just starting
their graduate studies who desire also a glimpse at
the current research. Fourth, and rather rare for
textbooks on this subject, the book gives a balanced
view on mechanics of continua by accompanying
well-known analytical methods with various numerical
techniques. For this reason two chapters have been
dedicated to computational aspects of elastostatics
and fluid dynamics and a number of Mathematica codes
are freely available on the book’s home-page. Fifth,
and foremost important, the chapters can be used to
some extent independent of one another and, of course,
this was done with the cost of some repetitions.
However, when reading the book in full these
repetitions come as a welcomed and sometimes necessary
refresher on previously discussed subjects, only to
underline its scholastic nature.
At first glance the book stems out of a set of
lectures delivered by the author for a number of years
at Copenhagen University, Denmark. More intimately
however, this almost encyclopedic book is due to the
author’s joy of doing physics, no matter its flavor. A
high energy physicist by training Benny Lautrup has
written a magnificent book on one of the oldest
subjects in science, a book that I wholeheartedly
recommend to any student with a keen interest in
physics. This is a book written by an impassioned
physicist for impassioned scholars.
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