Research Guides: Physics: Library Resources

Library Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text journals.
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Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Full-text, scholarly articles in physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, arts & humanities, and more. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times, 1995-present.
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Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online (AVON) spans a wide range of subject areas. Includes content like documentaries, films, and demonstrations from publishers like the BBC, PBS, and Sony.
Today's Science (Infobase) This link opens in a new window
Updated weekly and containing thousands of links to a 25-year back-file, Today's Science explains important developments in biology, chemistry, the environment, space, physics, and technology. Students are provided with information in context, clearly explained and abundantly illustrated, so they can see new advances not as inexplicable wonders, but as resulting from the application of the same concepts and principles of investigation (the scientific method) that they are learning about in simpler form in the classroom.
Career and Technical Education: Science & Technology This link opens in a new window
This database is the definitive source for vocational information focused on science and technology.
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Search for Physics-related eBooks

Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
SKYCTC's ebooks from ProQuest. Includes thousands of ebooks from leading publishers like Wiley, 130 university presses, and more. Collections cover subjects such as: biology, business management, computer science/IT, education, engineering & manufacturing, history, literature, nursing and other health-related fields, physical sciences, psychology, religious studies and sociology.
EBSCOhost eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
SKYCTC's electronic book collection, including fiction, nonfiction, and reference. Also searches our K-8 eBook collection. Academic titles are not discoverable in Library Search - doublecheck this database for eBooks on your topics.
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Tutorials in Library Databases

College Students This link opens in a new window
Resources to help college students strengthen their academic skills and prepare for placement tests.
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Find Background Information

Why is background information important?

Provides an overview of an unfamiliar topic.
Give you basic information about a topic like definitions & summaries.
Helps you broaden or narrow your search.

Reference materials, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, are great sources of background information.

Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window
Combines Encyclopdia Britannica and Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, plus magazines and periodicals, an atlas, biographies, e-books, and other tools.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is an e-reference database with hundreds of encyclopedia, topical dictionary, and handbook titles. Use Credo to start your research by gathering background information, finding key terms and concepts, and then connecting to scholarly articles.
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eBooks from Master Academic eBook Collection (Infobase) This link opens in a new window
With more than 2,500 core reference works from the Facts On File, Ferguson’s, and Bloom’s imprints. Coverage includes a wide range of academic subject areas—from literature and language reference, to world history, religion, and philosophy. Also includes Literary Classics eBook collection and Sacred Text eBook collection.

Open Access Journals

arXiv.org
Open access to 1,640,461 e-prints in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. arXiv is owned and operated by Cornell University, and is funded by Cornell University, the Simons Foundation and by the member institutions.
Directory of Open Access Journals
Provides access to quality controlled Open Access Journals.

Websites

Physics Tutorials from Khan Academy
Practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom.
The Physics Classroom
The Physics Classroom is an online, free to use physics website developed primarily for beginning physics students and their teachers. The website features a variety of sections intended to support both teachers and students in the tasks of learning and teaching physics.
PhET from the University of Colorado-Boulder
PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. Select "Simulations" and "Physics" to access Physics resources.
Crash Course: Physics
Short, engaging instructional videos about Physics
myPhysicsLab Simulations
Opensource list of customizable physics simulations to visualize abstract concepts.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
From the California Institute of Technology's Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy and Feynman Lectures Website, current copy of Feynman's legendary lectures on Physics.
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
With a mission to advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanity, AIP formed in 1931 to unite professional organizations in the physical sciences. Students may keep up with physics news, the American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, American Association of Physics Teachers, and student organizations such as the Society of Physics Students and Sigma Pi Sigma to learn about scholarship, career, and networking opportunities!

eBooks from the SKYCTC Learning Commons

The Penguin Dictionary of Physics, 4th ed. by Cullerne, John
ISBN: 9780141036830
Publication Date: 2009-09-22
Provides clear and concise definitions for every area of physics--from optics and acoustics to mechanics and electronics, via quantum theory and relativity.
Mathematical Physics by Derek Raine
ISBN: 9781683922056
Publication Date: 2018-08-15
This book is designed as an introduction to the mathematical concepts used to describe fundamental physics principles. Numerous examples and applications enable the reader to master complex mathematical concepts needed to define topics such as relativity, mechanics, and electromagnetics.
Foundations of Physics by Steve Adams
ISBN: 9781683929703
Publication Date: 2023-04-14
This updated edition is designed as a self-teaching, calculus-based introduction to the concepts of physics. Numerous examples, applications, and figures provide readers with simple explanations. Standard topics include vectors, conservation of energy, Newton's Laws, momentum, motion, gravity, relativity, waves, fluid mechanics, circuits, nuclear physics, astrophysics, and more.
Absolutely Small by Michael D. Fayer
ISBN: 9780814414880
Publication Date: 2010-06-16
Physics is a complex, even daunting topic, but it is also deeply satisfying--even thrilling. And liberated from its mathematical underpinnings, physics suddenly becomes accessible to anyone with the curiosity and imagination to explore its beauty.
Einstein and Oppenheimer by Silvan S. Schweber
ISBN: 9780674034525
Publication Date: 2010-03-30
Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, two iconic scientists of the twentieth century, belonged to different generations, with the boundary marked by the advent of quantum mechanics. By exploring how these men differed--in their worldview, in their work, and in their day--this book provides powerful insights into the lives of two critical figures and into the scientific culture of their times.
A Short History of Physics in the American Century by David C. Cassidy
ISBN: 9780674049369
Publication Date: 2011-10-24
Views physics through America's engagement with the political events of a tumultuous century.

Astronomy & Physics Encyclopedias from Master Academic eBook Collection (Infobase)
A collection of over 30 reference works designed to provide background information over Astronomy & Physics with high school and college students in mind.

Books in the Learning Commons (L 113)

Black Bodies and Quantum Cats by Jennifer Ouellette; Alan Chodos (Foreword by)
Call Number: QC7 .O89 2005
ISBN: 9780143036036
Publication Date: 2005-12-01
Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. Science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop.showing that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavor--and a fundamental part of our everyday world.
Basic Physics by Karl F. Kuhn
Call Number: QC23 .K74 1996
ISBN: 9780471134473
Publication Date: 1996-04-12
An easy-to-use guide for understanding the fundamentals of physics and the physical world.
Physics the Easy Way by Robert L. Lehrman
Call Number: QC23 .L36 1998
ISBN: 9780764102363
Publication Date: 1998-02-01
A self-teaching introduction to physics, using ordinary language and elementary algebra to cover topics like motion, forces, machines, energy, heat, wave motion, noise and music, electricity, magnetism, electromagnetic waves, properties of light, and an introduction to nuclear physics.
E-Z Physics by Robert L. Lehrman
Call Number: QC23.2 .L44 2009
ISBN: 9780764141263
Publication Date: 2009-08-01
Clear, concise, step-by-step review of motion, forces, energy, heat, wave motion, magnetism and electricity, properties of light, and introductory nuclear physics.
Physics Demystified by Stan Gibilisco
Call Number: ,b>QC23.2 .G54 2002
ISBN: 9780071382014
Publication Date: 2002-08-01
Self-teaching guide covering math used in physics, from mass/force/acceleration to atomic structure.
Complete Idiot's Guide to Physics by Johnnie T. Dennis; Gary Moring
Call Number: QC23.2 .D46 2006
ISBN: 9781592575312
Publication Date: 2006-08-01
This guide is intended for high school and college students who are required to take physics. Offering easy-to-understand instruction, it follows a standard non-calculus-based physics curriculum. Clearer, more approachable, solved practice problems plus revised Text and figures.

Librarian / Associate Professor

Ryan Dowell

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Contact:

Main Campus - Learning Commons
Building L, Office 119 - F

270-901-1171

Subjects: Library and Information Services