| Fall 2008 | Daniel Finley |
| Tues. & Thurs. 9:30 - 10:50 PM , PandA 184 | |
| the Required Problem Session, Physics 451-054, meets Tuesday night from 7 to 9 pm [1 credit hour; CR/NC grade] | |
| Text: | Classical Mechanics , John R. Taylor; | |
| Week beginning | Chapters/Sections | Content/Comments | |
| 25 August | Chapter 1: 1-6, |
Vector Form for Displacement, Velocity, & Acceleration Newton's First Law & Inertial Ref. Frames Newton's Second Law & concept of mass: Free-Body Diagrams Newton's Third Law & Conservation of Total Momentum: also friction | |
| Problem Session | Discussion on Scalars, Vectors, Basis Vectors, and Vector Operators | ||
| 1 Sept. This week includes Labor Day (Monday) | Ch. 1: 7 Ch. 2: 1-3 |
Newton's Second Law in Cylindrical Coordinates:
Cylindrical Basis Vectors Velocity-Dependent Forces: (Linear) Air Resistance | |
| Problem Session | Work at the Board with Vectors: Examples for Newton's
Laws Perhaps extra time for MATLAB/Maple sessions | ||
| 8 Sept.
| Ch. 2: 4-5 |
Computer modeling of the motions Quadratic Air Resistance Magnetic Forces: complex variables to separate coupled diff. eqns. (de's) | |
| Problem Session | Review of air friction for falling bodies; de Moivre's theorem for complex variables | ||
| 15 Sept. | Ch. 3 (all) Ch. 4: 1 read entire chapter slowly, carefully; the most important one so far! |
Conservation of Momentum, again, for several particles; also Rockets Center of Mass for Systems, and also Solid Bodies Angular Momentum for Several Particles. Work, and Conservation of Energy = The Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem! | |
| Problem Session | unsure at the moment | ||
| 22 September
Exam I, over Chs. 1-2 | Ch. 4: 2-6, 8, 10 |
Conservative Forces Allow Potential Energies; Potential Energies always involve (at least) Two Bodies. Energy Diagrams, to understand possible motions. Energy for Multiparticle Systems; Central Forces. | |
| Problem Session | Exam I, over Chs. 1-2, only. | ||
| 29 Sept. Friday is last day to drop without questions |
Ch. 4: 7, 9 Ch. 5: 1-3 |
Curvilinear Coordinate Systems; Spherical Coordinates;
Form of Vector Operators. Hooke's Law and SHM (all Review) | |
| Problem Session | Potential Energy Diagrams and possible motions | ||
| 6 Oct.
Exam II, over Chs. 3-4 | Ch. 5: 3-6 |
Oscillators in more than one dimension; Driven and/or Damped (Linear) Oscillators Inhomogeneous Terms in Ordinary Diff. Eqns. Resonance, Full-Width at Half-Maximum, and Q-factors Sinusoidal Driving, with more than one frequency. | |
| Problem Session | Exam II, over Chs. 3-4 | ||
| 13 Oct.
Thurs. & Fri. are | Ch. 5: 7-9 | Fourier Series, and their use for Driving Forces | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 20 Oct. |
Ch. 6 (all, but briefly); Ch. 7 1-3 |
Calculus of Variations = Extrema for Integrals rather than Functions the Euler-Lagrange eqns. Distinguishing kinds of Extrema Generalized coordinates; Lagrange's equations = Newton's equations | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 27 Oct.
Exam III, over Chs. 5-6 | Ch. 7: 4-7 |
Proofs for Lagrange's equations with Constraints Many Examples of Lagrangians Generalized Momenta, and Ignorable Coordinates Conservation Laws | |
| Problem Session | Exam III, over Chs. 5-6 | ||
| 3 Nov. | Ch. 13: 1-4 |
Hamiltonians momenta, and phase-space | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 10 Nov. | Ch. 7 (Review) Ch. 8: 1-5 |
Resume for Lagrangians: most important topic in text! Center-of-mass and relative coordinates for the 2-body problem total mass and reduced mass: equivalent, 1-particle problem Central force allows reduction to equivalent, 1-dimensional problem. An orbit equation as alternative to time-dependent equations. | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 17 Nov. | Ch. 8: 5-7; handout on the eccentric anomaly |
The Kepler Problem: planetary & cometary orbits about the sun (or earth) The eccentric anomaly as a way to re-visit the question of time dependence; | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 24 Nov. Thanksgiving Break is Thurs. & Fri. | Ch. 8: 8, and handout on the Jupiter flyby |
Changes of orbit; perturbations of orbits; Slingshot perturbations of orbits. The Jupiter flyby! | |
| Problem Session | |||
| 1 Dec.
Exam IV, over Chs. 7, 8, and part of 13 | Ch. 9: 1-8 |
Accelerating Frames: linear & also rotating:
Time derivatives in such frames. Centripetal Forces Coriolis Forces; weather patterns. | |
| Problem Session | Exam IV, over Chs. 7,8, and part of 13 | ||
| 8 Dec. |
Ch. 9: 2 and 9-10 Review of Semester |
The Tides on Earth the Foucault Pendulum [one exists at Albuq. Academy] | |
| Problem Session | |||
| Final Exam is Cumulative, but with an emphasis on Ch. 9 | |||
| Scheduled by the University for Tuesday, 16 December, 7:30-9:30 am. | |||