PHYS 3601: Classical Dynamics

Spring 2013

Lectures: When: MWR 1:35 pm - 2:40 pm Where: Richards Hall 231

Instructor: Prof. Adrian Feiguin
Office: Dana 119
Phone: (617) 373-2925
E-mail: a.feiguin@northeastern.edu
Homepage: http://www.neu.edu/afeiguin
Office Hours: MWR 11am-12am or by appointment

Required Materials

“Classical Mechanics,” John R. Taylor, University Science Books, ISBN 1-891389-22-X
Similar text books by Thornton and Marion; Symon; Fowles; Landau and Lifshitz, and Goldstein will be held on
Reserve in the Library

Introduction

An introduction to the mathematical formulation of classical mechanics, which is the study of how objects move. Lectures cover most of the material from the first fourteen chapters in Taylor's book at a pace of approximately one chapter per week. Topics will include: Newtonian Dynamics, Projectiles and Charged Particles, Momentum, Angular Momentum and Energy, Oscillations, Calculus of Variations, Lagrange's Equations, Central Forces, Systems of Particles and Motion in Non-Inertial Frames. Time-permitting will introduce Hamilton's formulation.

The course will be mostly based on this book:

“Classical Mechanics,” John R. Taylor, University Science Books, ISBN 1-891389-22-X. Similar text books by Thornton and Marion; Symon; Fowles; Landau and Lifshitz, and Goldstein will be held on Reserve in the Library

I will take some license in the description of some methods, and follow my own notes.
Hopefully class notes will be a good guidance, and the intructor will make an effort to make them available on the course webpage.

Pre-Requisites:
Course Structure:

3 lecture hours per week
Homework Reading assigned daily
Homework Problems assigned weekly
2 Midterm Exams
Final Exam

Prerequisites:

Grading:
The grade for the course will be based on:

Homeworks (30%)
Midterm exams (35%)
Final exam (35%)

Homeworks:

Grading will be based on a point basis.
The couse will include approximately 1 homework assignments per week.
Homeworks will be assigned on Thursdays, and will collected on Thursday of the following week, in class.
Deadlines are important. Without a medical reason, or highly justifiable excuse, 50% of the grade will be reduced for each day of delay.
Rewrites of homeworks are acceptable only before deadline. Homeworks can be discussed during office hours.
Attendanece to office hours is strongly encouraged.
Attendance is advised, and highly recommendable. Students are expected to attend all lectures.

Absence policy:

Attendanece to office hours is strongly encouraged.
Attendance is advised, and highly recommendable. Students are expected to attend all lectures.

Academic integrity:
Academic dishonesty is defined as "an act attempted or performed which misrepresents one's involvement in an academic task in any way, or permits another student to misrepresent the latter's involvement in an academic task by assisting the misrepresentation." There is a well-defined procedure to judge such cases, and serious penalties may be assessed. More info at http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academicintegrity/

Classroom decorum:

The student has obligations as well as rights in the classroom. The student's code of conduct can be found at http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/codeofconduct/

Cell phone policy:

Cell phone use is not allowed in class. They should be turned off, or into vibration mode. Calls will only be allowed in case of an emergency situation.

Students with Dissabilities:

If you have a physical, learning, or psychological disability and require accommodations, please let me know as soon as possible. You will need to register with, and provide documentation of your disability.

Topics to be covered

Disclaimer: This program is tentative and not definitive. Changes may be applied, and students will be properly notified in a timely way. We will not cover ALL the topics necessarily. I will concern more about quality than quantity, and reserve the right to remove or add contents as I find it necessary.

Preliminar Schedule:
The semeter has 14 weeks. Some topics may take longer than expected. Any changes to the schedule will be properly notified in class.

Topic 1: Newton's Laws	Topic	Text sections	Important dates
1 M 1/7	Newton’s Laws; Conservation Laws	1.1-1.6	First week of class
2 W 1/9	Using Newton’s 2nd Law with Polar Coordinates	1.7
3 R 1/10	Projectile Motion with Air Resistance	2.1-2.4
4 M 1/14	Systems of Particles: Center of Mass and Angular Momentum	3.1-3.5
5 W 1/16	Potential Energy Surfaces: Forces, Motion, and Stability	4.1-4.8
6 R 1/17	Simple Harmonic Oscillators	5.1-5.3
M 1/21	MLK - No class		No class
7 W 1/23	Damped and Driven Oscillators; Resonance	5.4-5.6
8 R 1/24	Fourier Series	5.-5.8
Topic 2: Lagrange equations
9 M 1/28	Calculus of Variations	6.1-6.2
10 W 1/30	Euler –Lagrange Equation	6.3
11 R 1/31	Problems with More than 2 Variables	6.4
12 M 2/4	Unconstrained Motion and Hamilton’s Principle	7.1
13 W 2/6	Constrained Motion and Generalized Coordinates	7.2-7.4
14 R 2/7	Examples Using Lagrange Equations	7.5
M 2/11	Midterm #1- covering lectures 1-8 (Chapters 1-5)
15 W 2/13	More Examples Using Lagrange Equations	7.5
16 R 2/14	Generalized Momenta and Conservation Laws
M 2/18	Presidents' Day - No class		No class
18 W 2/20	Lagrange Multipliers	7.10
Topic 3: Central Force Motion
19 R 2/21	Equations of Motion: Center of Mass and Relative Coordinates	8.1-8.2
20 M 2/25	Energy and Angular Momentum	8.3-8.4
21 W 2/27	Kepler’s Laws and Kepler Orbits	8.5-8.7
22 R 2/28	Kepler’s Laws and Kepler Orbits	8.5-8.7
3/2-3/8	Spring-break		No class
Topic 4: Rotating Reference Frames and Rotational Motion
23 M 3/11	Tides	9.1-9.2
24 W 3/13	Newton’s 2nd Law in a Rotating Reference Frame	9.3-9.6
25 R 3/14	Centrifugal and Coriolis Forces	9.7-9.8
M 3/18	Midterm #2- covering lectures 9-22 (Chapters 6-8)
26 W 3/20	Matrix and Linear Algebra Review
27 R 3/21	Rigid Body Motion	10.1-10.2
28 M 3/25	The Inertia Tensor	10.3
29 W 3/27	Principal Axes	10.4-10.5
30 R 3/28	Euler’s Equations	10.6-10.7
31 M 4/1	Spinning Tops: Precession and Nutation	10.8-10.10	Last day to drop
Topic 5: Coupled Oscillators and Normal Modes
32 W 4/3	Multiple Masses and Springs	11.1-11.2
33 R 4/4	Weak Coupling	11.3
34 M 4/8	Lagrangian Approach	11.4
35 W 4/10	The General Case	11.5-11.7
Topic 6: Collisions
36 R 4/11	Definitions: Scattering Angle, Impact Parameter, Cross Section	14.1-14.2
M 4/15	Patriot's Day		No class
37 W 4/17	Differential Cross Sections	14.3-14.4	Last day of class
38	Examples	14.5-14.6
Topic 7: Hamiltonian Mechanics
39 Optional topic	Hamilton Equations	13.1-13.2
TBA (Finals Week : 4/22-4-26)	FINAL EXAM