Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Physics - Mains (Part II)

Nuclear and Particle Physics: Textbook S B Patel (Nuclear Physics), Pandya Yadav (for Particle Physics. The book is titled Elements of Nuclear Physics).

Patel is a good source for most topics. I particularly like the way it deals with Liquid Drop model. However, it is not as conceptually correct as I would like it to be.

Semi empirical mass formula and mass parabolas, deutron problem and non-central forces are done well in Patel. While discussing mass parabolas be sure to mention all the four cases with examples.

Shell model should be done from Resnick-Eisberg (It is a good reference book for entire Paper II). Do the need for the model, assumptions, results, physical interpretation, successes and failures – done well in Eisberg and somewhat in Patel.

Violation of parity in beta decay is done extremely well in Irving Kaplan. A must read for this topic.

Mossbauer spectroscopy is in Chapter 9 of Patel. But it does not give good applications (especially regarding application in general relativity). Do some of the applications from Eisberg. See question asked in Indian Forest Service Examination 2007.

Nuclear fission is done well in Eisberg. Eisberg is also a must for nuclear fusion, role of quantum mechanics (barrier penetration) and energy production in stars.

B S Aggarwal deals ok with critical mass required in nuclear reactors. Four factor formula is done well in Patel. But no book goes into detail of types of nuclear reactors. All just give an overview. Be happy with it.

For Elementary Particles do the Chapter in Pandya Yadav. Physics of neutrinos is done in Patel. Unification of forces is from Beiser. Eisberg may also be referred to but at a later stage.

Solid State Physics: Textbook S.O. Pillai. Handles most topics well.

Space groups are just given a passing reference in Pillai. It is a very tough topic and details may be omitted. Details of Point Groups are available on internet. Curious Aspirants may go through 32 point groups from internet.

I don’t know about electron microscopies.

In Band theory, Pillai does not give proof for Bloch Theorem. That may be done from C L Arora. Omit the solution of determinant in Kronig Penney model and just give the final equation obtained after solution followed by the interpretation as given in Pillai.

Superconductivity: Done ok in Pillai. Deifference between a superconductor and perfect conductor is done well in J P Srivastava (Prentice Hall India publication). High Temperature Superconductivity and BCS Theory need a “General Studies” answer. Prepare 20 marks answer for them.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hi sir,
this time ,2008 physics paper is full of surprises.compulsory questions consists 6ques of 10 marks each.it is bit lenghty.syllabus is so vast that i find it difficult to memorise and without it nothing works in exam as no time to think.what to do about it??

Supreet Singh Gulati said...

Only two things can help with this:

First, focus on topics repeated very often in the exams. Going through past 10-15 years papers will help you identify some of the commonly asked topics. Prepare good answers for them.

Secondly, practice a lot. I remember practising Quantum Mechanics derivations around 10-12 times (I didn't want to miss a single question in Quantum Mechanics); Nuclear and Particle Physics, Spectroscopy around 5 times. Again lots of effort for Optics and EM Theory in Paper I.

This is the time to practise out your Physics. Don't waste December and January. You can practise out important topics of at least one paper in this time.

Unknown said...

Dear Gulati
Thank you for your guidance. Kindly suggest a textbook(s) for the electronics portion of Physics.