Physics
505: Advanced Dynamics
last updated: Dec 8, 2018
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Announcements:
Below is the detailed schedule for the course.
Class
meeting time: T/Th 9:30-10:45, Workman 352
Contact
Info: M. Creech-Eakman, Workman 357, X5809 (voicemail here) OR occasionally MRO, ROB 147, X6756 OR michelle.creecheakman -at- nmt.edu
Office
hours: Posted on the door to my Workman Office or by appointment (try email first)
Main
books: 3rd edition of Goldstein, Safko and Poole's book "Classical Mechanics"
Click here for a pdf copy
of the syllabus.
Quote
for thought:
"The problems that exist in the
world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created
them."
--Albert Einstein
Links for grabbing papers:
ADS
Abstracts
LANL Preprint Server
Links or suggestions for other useful reading:
Landau and Lifshitz, "Mechanics"
Taylor "Classical Mechanics"
Thornton and Marion "Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems"
Corben and Stehle "Classical Mechanics" (also at Dover)
Lanczos "The Variational Principles of Mechanics" (Dover)
Abramowitz and Stegun "Handbook of Mathematical Functions" (Dover)
NIST website for mathematical functions
(Detailed schedule of topics. Read ahead.)
Schedule, Reading
and homework assignments:
Aug 21: No class -- professor out. Use the time to study for the prelim.
Aug 23: Read Chapter 1. Short class. Syllabus and start taking notes on basic definitions.
Aug 28: Chapter 1 -- Definitions, review on conservation.
Aug 30: Read Chapter 2. Lagrangians. HW #1 due.
Sept 4: Euler-Lagrange formalism and examples.
Sept 6: More examples of Lagrangians vs. Hamiltonians. Generalized coor. HW #2 due.
Sept 11: Read 1st half Chapter 3. Finish Ch 2 - momentum dicussion. Start Chapter 3. Discuss paper topic requirements.
Sept 13: More on conservation, Kepler's laws, etc. Read last half Chapter 3. HW #3 due.
Sept 18: Kepler and orbits.
Sept 20: Scattering. HW #4 due.
Sept 25: Scattering. Starting Ch 4 discussion. Read Ch 4.
Sept 27: Practice problems for exam. HW #5 due.
Oct 2: More Ch 4 -- definitions of coordinate systems and rigid bodies. Paper topic due.
Oct 4: No class - emergency.
Oct 9: Test #1. Start at 9:15. Ch 1-3 topics.
Oct 11: More coordinate transformations and linear algebra. Read Ch 4 for real this time!
Oct 16: Start Euler angles.
Oct 18: Some Euler examples. HW #6 due.
Oct 23: More Euler discussion, infinitessimal/finite rotations. Read Ch 5.
Oct 25: Start Ch 5 -- moments of inertia. HW #7 due.
Oct 30: More moments of inertia.
Nov 1: Rotation examples. HW #8 due.
Nov 6: End of rotations, start of oscillations.
Nov 8: Oscillations. HW #9 due.
Nov 13: Oscillations.
Nov 15: Oscillations and prep for Test #2.
Nov 20: Test #2.
Nov 22: Thanksgiving No Classes.
Nov 27: Oscillations.
Nov 29: Hamiltonian Theory. HW #10 due.
Dec 4: Hamiltonian Theory completed. Some examples.
Dec 6: Chaos overview. HW #11 due -- ExCr HW - due date same as test
Finals week -- Week of Dec 10. TBD Test #3 on scheduled day still TBD - Dec 10 -- 9 AM
Final paper due Wed, Dec 12 in email and print both please.