PHYSICS 303

Fall 2008	Lecture:	Tu. & Thurs. 9:30 - 10:45 AM ,	PandA 184	Daniel Finley
	(P451-054) Problem Session:	Tues.: 7:00 - 8:50 PM ,	PandA 184

Lagrange (1736-1813)		Isaac Newton (1642-1727)		Hamilton (1805-1865)

 

Introduction to the Class

This is the beginning of a 2-semester general introduction to phenomena associated with the name classical mechanics,
which includes at least Newton's, Lagrange's, and Hamilton's approaches to oscillatory motions, two-body motions, and rotational motion of rigid bodies,
as well as the more modern studies of nonlinear mechanics and chaotic motion.

We will use a recently-published text which seems quite good, with a good mix of the very classical parts of our subject combined with introductions to the modern research still continuing on nonlinear problems:

My Office: Physics & Astronomy Bldg., 800 Yale Boulevard, Room 168
Telephone:     277-8799 ;     email:     finley@tagore.phys.unm.edu

Office Hours:

• my formal office hours are after class, from 11 to 12, and also Wedn. afternoon from 2 to 3 pm.
• in my office, at ANY time that you come by and I am there without other people;
• I am happy to talk with you about physics, math, or how they relate to the world, your text, and/or your assigned homework!

The class has a Teaching Assistant, Prabhakar Palni, who will also help with the nighttime Problem Sessions, and the grading of homework problems.
He will be available for discussions and/or questions, holding office hours, in his office, Room 1154, from 11 to 12 noon on Fridays.
You may also send him email by clicking here, suggesting an alternate time and place for you to meet with him.

The problem session, P. 451-054, is very important, and you must take it as well; it is 1 credit hour and is graded CR/NC.
It will be very important for help with the problems, and especially with mathematical difficulties that you may have.
I will use some of that time to provide help for you with new mathematical applications,
which you may not recall well from your mathematics classes,
and for some help with using computer programs to numerically solve differential equations and create graphical output.
Also note that the examinations are given at this time, on those 4 days when we have exams.

Below are comments concerning requirements for the course. Please see the course information webpage for much more information:

• There will be homework assignments due on Tuesdays, and also Thursdays, to be turned in at the beginning of the class. Many of these assignments will include problems which require a computer to complete, using some form of programming.
  There will also be a few Bonus Homework Problems over the course of the semester: they are both more difficult and more interesting. Their grade goes on top of the average for all regular homework assignments, so that you could end up with a homework average higher than 100%
  
• There will be four examinations, all of which will be given during the time for the problem session of the appropriate week, as noted in the syllabus.
  Lastly, there will be a final examination, at the standard, announced time, which will be comprehensive over the semester, but with an emphasis on the material since the previous exam.
• Assigned Homework will be very important in your process of learning the material being discussed. Therefore, it will count 20% of your final course grade. The assignments are put up as they are created, on the series of webpages listed below. Be sure to tell me if I have forgotten to put up on time:
  1. homework sets I,   preparing for the first exam;
  2. homework sets II,   preparing for the second exam;
  3. homework sets III,   preparing for the third Exam.
  4. homework sets IV,   preparing for the fourth Exam.
  5. homework sets V,   preparing for the Final Exam.

• The listing for Bonus Homework Problems is below here.
  1. First Bonus Homework Assignment due 28 October, 2008.

     Solution is found at this link as a Maple file, or at this link as an html-file.

  2. Second Bonus Homework Assignment due 25 November, 2008.

     Solution is found at this link.

Some of the homework problems will require the use of computer software capable of creating numerical solutions to differential equations, creating good plots, and of performing algebraic computations for ordinary and matrix algebra, such as MATLAB, Maple, or Mathematica.
I will be giving yet additional help sessions, with Maple and/or MATLAB, for those who need help with these techniques.

Links will be inserted below to various "demonstrations" shown in class, on the computer:

• the Greek alphabet, an amusing, or perhaps helpful, description
• this is a list of useful integrals involving inverse trigonometric and hyperbolic functions.
• Maple files that demonstrate particular, useful things one might want it to do:
  They are presented as html-files, which can simply be viewed,
  and also as actual maple files [.mws], which one must download, rather than view, and then use in a Maple program.
  • Plotting simple graphs: HTML-version, or Maple (11) version.
  • Creating graphs for (2-dimensional) projectiles under gravity with linear air drag: HTML-version, or Maple (10) version [Classic].
  • Creating graphs for (2-dimensional) projectiles under gravity with quadratic air drag: HTML-version, or Maple (10) version [Classic].
    Note that these graphs require the numerical solution of a coupled pair of ordinary differential equations.
  • Here are some graphs of Phase Plane plots for some sample harmonic oscillators, a Maple file version, or an HTML version. undamped, underdamped, critically damped, and overdamped.
  • Graphs showing comparisons of the behavior of the relative coordinate, the coordinate for the first body, and that for the second body, for various (bound) motions for a two-body, attractive, central force.
    There is a downloadable Maple file, which will have to be downloaded and then run as a Maple program,
    or an HTML version, which one can simply view.
    However, since the Maple File shows the orbits as animations, where one can actually watch the motion of the three bodies (including the relative one), the html version shows these animations as moving gif-files, so that one may watch them orbiting there as well.

• Extra notes are presented here, to describe the role of the eccentric anomaly in planetary motion.
• Some additional notes are here, which describe the Jupiter flyby for a spacecraft on its way toward the outer reaches of the solar system.
• Some more detailed notes are here, which describe the effect of the tides on the Earth, generated by the moon or the sun.
• A graph of the potential energy equipotentials for the restricted 3-body problem is available here.

Links to Exciting Physics News

Updated as I find time.

• The regular weekly set of newsreleases from the American Institute of Physics can be found here.
• latest values of the constants in physics
• An index for pictures of famous physicists is at this location.
  • One of their best sources is at the History of Physics page , run by the American Institute of Physics.

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   If you are a qualified person with disabilities who might need appropriate academic adjustments, please communicate with me as soon as possible so that we may make appropriate arrangements to meet your needs in a timely manner. Frequently, we will need to coordinate accommodating activities with other offices on campus.