Classical Mechanics I |
This first of two classical mechanics courses will build upon material introduced in Physics 1. This course will provide students with a skill-set to solve actual real-life problems involving dynamics and kinematics, breaking away from the highly idealised systems in first year courses while laying the foundations for analytical mechanics in the future. We will also see some content covered before, but now we will explicitly derive solutions that were simply provided previously. This will involve a much broader mathematical toolbox such as differential equations, multidimensional derivatives, matrix and tensor algebra, hyperbolic functions and complex numbers. These will come in use as we discuss planetary orbits, vibrations of molecules, the motion of tides, and how rockets escape into space!
This class would to take place once a week over a semester. We followed the textbook Classical Mechanics by Taylor. The material was the subject of seminars held immediately after each lecture.
PDFs of lecture slides can be found in the CM1 folder at this url. Note these slides were used in classes I taught 2021 and have not been updated since.
Part 1 [1 session]: Introduction and different coordinate systems
Part 2 [2 sessions]: Equations of motion and drag
Part 3 [2 sessions]: Motion of extended objects, Newton's laws with changing mass
Part 4 [2 sessions]: Energy, conservative forces and potentials
Part 5 [2 sessions]: Oscillations, damped and driven SHM
Part 6 [2 sessions]: Central forces, potential theory and orbital dynamics
Part 7 [2 sessions]: Motion in non-inertial frames of reference
Part 8 [2 sessions]: Motion of extended objects, inertia and rotations