本书基于SEARS AND ZEMANSKY'S UNIVERSITY PHYSICS WITH MODERN PHYSICS，13E（《西尔斯当代大学物理》原书第13版），参照教育部高等学校物理基础课程教学指导分委员会制定的《理工科类大学物理课程教学基本要求》（2010年版），依据我国大学生的学习基础和教学大纲的知识点要求改编。本书涵盖了上述教学基本要求中的所有A类知识点，主要内容有力学、热学、电磁学、波动光学、相对论和量子物理。本书的特点是，在改编过程中对内容和习题进行了精选，不仅完全继承了原书的特色，还在行文上完全保留了原版教材原汁原味的表述，其内容和阅读量更适合中国理工科类相关专业作为双语教学的教材，同时可供社会读者阅读。

前言
1 VECTORS
1.1 Vectors and Vector Addition
1.2 Components of Vectors
1.3 Unit Vectors
1.4 Products of Vectors
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
2 MOTION
2.1 Position and Velocity Vectors
2.2 The Acceleration Vector
2.3 Motion with Constant Acceleration
2.4 Velocity and Position by Integration
2.5 Projectile Motion and Motion in a Circle
2.6 Relative Velocity
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
3 NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION
3.1 Force and Interactions
3.2 Newton’s Law
3.3 Mass and Weight
3.4 Free-Body Diagrams
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
4 APPLYING NEWTON’S LAWS
4.1 Using Newton’s Laws
4.2 Dynamics of Circular Motion
4.3 The Fundamental Forces of Nature
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
5 WORK AND KINETIC ENERGY
5.1 Work
5.2 Work and Energy with Varying Forces
5.3 Power
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
6 POTENTIAL ENERGY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION
6.1 Gravitational Potential Energy
6.2 Elastic Potential Energy
6.3 Conservative and Nonconservative Forces
6.4 Force and Potential Energy
6.5 Energy Diagrams
6.6 The Motion of Satellites
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
7 MOMENTUM, IMPULSE, AND COLLISIONS
7.1 Momentum and Impulse
7.2 Conservation of Momentum
7.3 Momentum Conservation and Collisions
7.4 Elastic Collisions
7.5 Center of Mass
7.6 Rocket Propulsion
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
8 ROTATION OF RIGID BODIES
8.1 Angular Velocity and Acceleration
8.2 Relating Linear and Angular Kinematics
8.3 Energy in Rotational Motion
8.4 Parallel-Axis Theorem
8.5 Moment-of-Inertia Calculations
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
9 DYNAMICS OF ROTATIONAL MOTION
9.1 Torque
9.2 Torque and Angular Acceleration for a Rigid Body
9.3 Work and Power in Rotational Motion
9.4 Angular Momentum
9.5 Conservation of Angular Momentum
9.6 Gyroscopes and Precession
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
10 PERIODIC MOTION
11 MECHANICAL WAVES
12 TEMPERATURE, HEAT AND THERMAL PROPERTIES OF MATTER
13 THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODY NAMICS
14 THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
15 ELECTRIC CHARGE AND ELECTRIC FIELD
16 GAUSS'S LAW
17 ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
18 CAPACITANCE AND DIELECTRICS
19 MAGNETIC FIELDAND MAGNETIC FORCES
20 SOURCES OF MAGNETIC FIELD
21 ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION
22 INDUCTANCE
23 THE NATURE AND PROPAGATION OF LIGHT
24 INTERFERENCE
25 DIFFRACTION
26 POLARIZATION
27 RELATIVITY
28 PHOTONS: LIGHT WAVES BEHAVING AS PARTICLES
29 PARTICLES BEHAVING AS WAVES
30 QUANTUM MECHANICS
APPENDIX