Course Outline


In a nutshell, we will cover the basics of classical mechanics with particular emphasis on Newton's laws,
conservation laws, kinematics, harmonic motion, and last but not least, special relativity. These topics
comprise chapters 1-13 and chapter 40 of the textbook. The approach I take in lecture may differ from
the approach taken by the textbook, although we will cover the same collection of topics.
 
The lab section will complement and illustrate the lecture material. In the lab, you get to see the laws of
physics in action firsthand! We will also have occasional (and hopefully successful) in class demonstrations.
A more complete syllabus includes:

 

I. Basic Concepts and Tools

A. Physical quantities and measurement, systems of units and
dimensions.
B. Coordinate systems and transformations, translation, rotation.
C. Fun with vectors.

II. Kinematics: the Science of Motion

A. Motion in one dimension, velocity and acceleration.
B. Motion in more dimensions: velocity and acceleration
vectors, projectile motion.
C. The general case: curvilinear non-uniform motion, tangential and
centripetal acceleration.

III. Dynamics: Why do Things Move?

A. Fundamentals of Newtonian Mechanics.
B. Newton's First, Second and Third Laws: inertial versus gravitational
mass.
C. Forces: applying Newton's Laws.
D. Equations of motion from Newton's Second Law, forces in curvilinear
coordinates.

IV. Work and Energy

A. Defining work, defining kinetic energy.
B. Dissipation, conservative forces, and potential energy.

V. Momentum and Collisions

A. Motion of a system of particles, the center of mass, generalizing
Newton's Laws.
B. What is momentum and why should I care?
C. Energy in relative motion: the kinetic energy of a system of particles.
D. Elastic and inelastic collisions, the ballistic pendulum.

VI. Torque and Angular Momentum

A. Circular motion, angular velocity and acceleration.
B. Conservation of angular momentum.
C. Rotation of rigid bodies, moments of
inertia, parallel axis theorem.
D. Rotational energy for a point particle and a rigid body. Rolling wheels,
power in rotational motion.

VII. Elements of Statics

A. Forces applied to a rigid body.
B. Equilibrium of rigid bodies.

VIII. Gravitational Force

A. Universal gravitation, Kepler's laws, field of a spherical shell.
B. Relative motion, uniform translation, accelerated and rotating
frames.
C. Escape velocity, equations of motion from energy conservation,
central forces.

IX. Harmonic Motion

A. Review of spring oscillator, simple pendulum. The compound, and the
torsional pendulum.
B. Damped harmonic motion, driven harmonic oscillator, and resonance.

X. Motion Near the Speed of Light: Special Relativity

A. Michelson-Morley experiment,  postulates of special relativity.
B. Galilean versus Lorentz transformation of coordinates. Lorentz
contraction, time dilation, and addition of velocities.