Physics Foundations

Physics Foundations

Refreshers for the physical principles the other books lean on.

A second shared companion, alongside Math Foundations. Short, focused chapters on the physical machinery the other books invoke — Newtonian mechanics, kinetic theory, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, elasticity, surface tension, waves as physical objects. Each chapter is a single page: link in from anywhere, scan, return.

Where Math Foundations gives you the calculus and the Fourier transform, Physics Foundations gives you the equations of motion: Euler’s equation for a fluid, the Young–Laplace condition for an interface, the Gibbs free energy for a phase transition, the elastic moduli of a continuum. Use it like a phrasebook — if a passage elsewhere in the bookshelf invokes a physical move you have not seen recently, follow the inline link, skim the relevant chapter, and resume the main flow.

Chapters

  1. Chapter 1Newtonian mechanics in one pageForce, momentum, energy, torque, free-body diagrams
  2. Chapter 2Kinetic theory & equipartitionPressure from collisions, Maxwell–Boltzmann, equipartition, mean free path
  3. Chapter 3Thermodynamics in one pageEquation of state, internal energy, adiabatic processes
  4. Chapter 4Free energy & phase equilibriaGibbs and Helmholtz free energy, Clausius–Clapeyron, nucleation barriers
  5. Chapter 5Fluid mechanics in one pageContinuity, Euler, Navier–Stokes, Bernoulli, Reynolds number, Stokes flow
  6. Chapter 6Viscosity, diffusion, and transportNewtonian shear stress, Fick’s law, Stokes drag, Einstein relation
  7. Chapter 7Elasticity and continuum mechanicsStress, strain, elastic moduli, tension, plate and membrane mechanics
  8. Chapter 8Intermolecular forces and the liquid stateLennard-Jones, hydrogen bonds, van der Waals, cohesive limit
  9. Chapter 9Surface tension and capillarityYoung–Laplace, contact angle, wetting, meniscus, surface free energy
  10. Chapter 10Waves as physical objectsPhase and group velocity, dispersion, impedance, energy density and flux
  11. Chapter 11Electromechanics and electrochemistryElectric fields, Nernst potential, electrochemical gradients, piezoelectricity
  12. Chapter 12Scaling and dimensionless numbersReynolds, Mach, Strouhal, ka, Weber, Capillary — when each one matters
  13. GlossaryGlossaryTerms used in this book
  14. BibliographyBibliographySources and further reading

In prose elsewhere on the bookshelf, an inline refresher link looks like:

The Euler equation
([refresher: fluid mechanics →](/physics/fluid-mechanics))
applied to a slab of air gives the second of the three coupled equations
behind the wave equation.

The link can appear on any term: an operator, a constitutive law, a moduli relation. The reader who already knows the material ignores the link; the reader who needs it follows, reads, and returns.