The Physics of Energy

This book provides a concise overview of the physical basics of different forms of renewable energy (water, waves, wind, solar, thermal, geothermal, biofuels), focusing on the physical limits for the efficiency and energy densities of different current technologies. It also discusses relevant aspects of materials science, physical chemistry, and biophysics. The book is based on the lecture notes of a course taught at TU München to undergraduate and graduate students of Applied Physics and related engineering disciplines. It provides material that can be taught in a one-semester course with 4 hours per week and includes a self-test section to enable students to check their understanding.

This undergraduate textbook on the physics of wave motion in optics and acoustics avoids presenting the topic abstractly in order to emphasize real-world examples. While providing the needed scientific context, Dr. Espinoza also relies on students' own experience to guide their learning. The book's exercises and labs strongly emphasize this inquiry-based approach.

Physics and the life sciences have established new connections within the past few decades, resulting in biological physics as an established subfield with strong groups working in many physics departments. These interactions between physics and biology form a two-way street with physics providing new tools and concepts for understanding life, while biological systems can yield new insights into the physics of complex systems.

The development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project is one of the most significant scientific events of the twentieth century. This revised and updated 4th edition explores the challenges that faced the scientists and engineers of the Manhattan Project.

This book presents a self-contained introduction to the physics of computing, by addressing the fundamental underlying principles that involve the act of computing, regardless of the actual machine that is used to compute. Questions like “what is the minimum energy required to perform a computation?”, “what is the ultimate computational speed that a computer can achieve?” or “how long can a memory last”, are addressed here, starting from basic physics principles.