---
title: "Interactive Physics Textbook | Sandbox Physics"
description: "A connected physics course in seven volumes. Each chapter builds a model, works the examples and tests the prediction in a Lab."
canonical_url: "https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/"
language: "en"
page_type: "story"
alternate_languages:
  zh-CN: "https://sandboxphysics.com/zh/learn/"
last_modified: "2026-10-28"
---

Sandbox Physics · Textbook

# Interactive Physics Textbook

A connected physics course in seven volumes. Each chapter builds a model, works the examples and tests the prediction in a Lab.

Each chapter starts from one question. It builds a model you can test, works the derivation and examples in full, and ends with exercises, explained answers and a Lab task. Prerequisites are listed at the top of every chapter, and new mathematics is explained where it is first used.

[Start with Volume 1, Chapter 1 →](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/mechanics/describing-motion/)

## The seven volumes

1. Volume 1

   ### [Motion, Force and Energy](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/mechanics/)

   How do we describe and measure motion, predict it from forces, and solve it with energy and momentum?

   Before this volume: High-school algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Derivatives, integrals and vectors are introduced where they are first needed.

   - [Chapter 1 · How do we describe a motion?](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/mechanics/describing-motion/)
   - [Chapter 2 · How does a camera measure motion?](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/mechanics/measuring-motion-with-a-camera/)
   - [Chapter 3 · How do we test a constant-acceleration model?](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/mechanics/testing-constant-acceleration/)

2. Volume 2

   ### Oscillations and Waves

   How does a disturbance oscillate, travel and add up, and which frequencies are amplified?

   Before this volume: Volume 1 on motion, force and energy. Phase, complex numbers and Fourier analysis are introduced step by step.

   In preparation

3. Volume 3

   ### Electricity, Magnetism and Circuits

   How do charges interact, how do fields store energy, and how do changing fields link together?

   Before this volume: Vectors, work and energy from Volume 1; electromagnetic oscillations build on Volume 2.

   In preparation

4. Volume 4

   ### Light, Imaging and Measurement

   How does light travel, form images and interfere, and why can an instrument not resolve smaller detail?

   Before this volume: Geometric optics starts from geometry; wave optics builds on Volume 2 and the electromagnetic picture on Volume 3.

   In preparation

5. Volume 5

   ### Heat, Probability and Matter

   How does the motion of many particles produce temperature, pressure and heat?

   Before this volume: Energy conservation from Volume 1; probability and distributions are built up in the text.

   In preparation

6. Volume 6

   ### Quantum Physics

   Which observations need a quantum description, and how does a state connect to measured results?

   Before this volume: The core of Volumes 1 and 2; atoms and magnetism use Volume 3.

   In preparation

7. Volume 7

   ### Learning the Microscopic World from Experiments

   What does an instrument actually record, and how do data show structure, states and interactions?

   Before this volume: Chosen chapters of Volumes 4 to 6, named for each instrument topic.

   In preparation

## Other courses

- ### [Quantum field theory, coarse-graining and critical phenomena](https://sandboxphysics.com/learn/field-theory/)

  An eight-chapter course for readers who already know quantum mechanics, from coupled oscillators to critical scaling.