Quick Links

Physics

Places to Begin: Reference Resources

Philip's Astronomy Encyclopedia   e-Book 2002
Philip's Atlas of the Universe   e-Book 2005
Encyclopedia of the Solar System   e-Book 2007
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Physics   QC5 .E54
The International Dictionary of Physics and Electronics   QC5 .I5
GRE - Physics   QC32 .P73
Q is for Quantum: an Encyclopedia of Particle Physics   QC793.2 .G747
Manufacturing Engineering Handbook   e-book 2004
The Penguin Dictionary of Physics   e-Book 2000
Dictionary of Global Climate Change   QC981.8 .C5 M38
The Bridgeman History of Science   e-book 2006
Smithsonian Physical Tables (9th Revised Edition)    
International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology (1st Electronic Edition)    

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Call Numbers to Browse

Many Physics resources are shelved in the "QC" area.

QC1 - 75 General   QC474 - 496.9 Radiation physics
QC81 - 114 Weights and measures   QC501 - 766 Electricity and magnetism
QC120 - 168.85 Descriptive and experimental mechanics   QC770 - 798 Nuclear and particle physics. Atomic energy. Radioactivity
QC170 - 197 Atomic Physics. Constitution and properties of matter incl. molecular physics, relativity, quantum theory, and solid state physics   QC801 - 809 Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC221 - 246 Acoustics. Sound   QC811 - 849 Geomagnetism
QC251 - 338.5 Heat  

QC851 - 999 Meteorology. Climatology
QC350 - 467 Optics. Light    

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Databases for Physics Research 

Places to Start

  • arXiv.org Open access to 436,000 e-prints in physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology and statistics. Funded by Cornell University and National Science Foundation.
  • Academic Search Premier: broad coverage; high quality

Other Places to Look

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Finding Journal Articles  

Articles published in scholarly, or peer-reviewed publications are frequently the most up-to-date source of reliable information for your academic work.

Locating a journal article is usually a 2-step process: (1) identifying an article with the information you want and (2) locating the periodical in which that article appears.

Identifying an article: Search in databases appropriate for your subject area, identified above. Find articles that apply to your research question.

Locating the periodical: Check the Good Library catalog or Citation Linker. If the library does not have the journal, you may request the article through Interlibrary Loan.

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Web Resources

American mineralogist crystal structure database
Includes every structure published in The American Mineralogist, The Canadian Mineralogist, and European Journal of Mineralogy.

American Physical Society

Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA

Federation of American Scientists

Library of Congress Study Guide for Astronomy, Math, and Physics

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

National Nuclear Data Center "The most comprehensive and complete nuclear data resource on the Web." Sponsored by Office of Nuclear Physics, U.S. Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Nuclear Science References (NSR) Bibliography of nuclear physics articles, indexed according to content and spanning nearly 100 years of research. Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Particle Adventure: from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Physical Sciences Resource Center: from American Association of Physics Teachers and American Physical Society

Society of Women Engineers: Includes links to scholarships and competitions.

U.S. Naval Observatory

The Why Files: The Science Behind the News. Weekly publication from the University Of Wisconsis-Madison about the science behind current news headlines and events that occur in daily life.

WWW Unit Converter convert temperature scales, weight, volume, and more.

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Updated 27-Oct-2009 SWH