Published by Pearson (September 5, 2025) © 2026
Hugh Young | Philip Adams | Raymond ChastainProduct Information
For courses in College Physics.
Help students see the connections between problem types and understand how to solve them
For more than five decades, Sears and Zemansky's College Physics has provided the most reliable foundation of physics education for students around the world. With the 11th Edition, author Phil Adams incorporates data from thousands of surveyed students detailing their use and reliance on worked examples, video tutorials, and need for just-in-time remediation when working homework problems and preparing for exams.
Driven by how students actually use the text and media today to prepare for their exams, the new edition adds worked examples and new Example Variation Problems in each chapter to help students see patterns and make connections between problem types. They learn to recognize when to use similar steps in solving the same problem type and develop an understanding for problem solving approaches, rather than simply plugging in an equation.
The expanded problem types and scaffolded in-problem support help students develop greater confidence in solving problems, deepen conceptual understanding, and strengthen quantitative-reasoning skills for better exam performance. All new problems sets are available in Mastering Physics with wrong answer specific feedback along with a wealth of new wrong answer feedback, hints, and eTexts links with 20% of end of chapter problems.
Personalize learning with Mastering Physics with Pearson eText
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Pearson eText is an easy-to-use digital textbook available within Mastering that lets you read, highlight, take notes, and review key vocabulary all in one place.
- Mathematics Review
MECHANICS
- Models, Measurements, and Vectors
- Motion Along a Straight Line
- Motion in a Plane
- Newton's Laws of Motion
- Applications of Newton's Laws
- Circular Motion and Gravitation
- Work and Energy
- Momentum
- Rotational Motion
- Dynamics of Rotational Motion
PERIODIC MOTION, WAVES, AND FLUIDS
- Elasticity and Periodic Motion
- Mechanical Waves and Sound
- Fluid Mechanics
THERMODYNAMICS
- Temperature and Heat
- Thermal Properties of Matter
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics
ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM
- Electric Charge and Electric Field
- Electric Potential and Capacitance
- Current, Resistance, and Direct-Current Circuits
- Magnetic Field and Magnetic Forces
- Electromagnetic Induction
- Alternating Current
- Electromagnetic Waves
LIGHT AND OPTICS
- Geometric Optics
- Optical Instruments
- Interference and Diffraction
MODERN PHYSICS
- Relativity
- Photons, Electrons, and Atoms
- Atoms, Molecules, and Solids
- Nulear and High-Energy Physics
APPENDICES
- A. The International System of Units
- B. The Greek Alphabet
- C. Periodic Table of the Elements
- D. Unit Conversion Factors
- E. Numerical Constants
- Answers to Odd-Numbered Problems