General Information

Newtonian mechanics, especially with dissipative forces; objects rotating around a constant direction and possibly translating, using both torque and energy; coupled and damped-driven linear oscillations and an introduction to nonlinear systems; an introduction to variational calculus; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism for generalized coordinates; central-force motion and a brief introduction to scattering; non-inertial reference systems; 3D motion of rigid bodies. (At the level of Classical Dynamics by Marion and Thornton and Classical Mechanics by John Taylor).

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: PHYS 1112 or PHYS 1116. Corequisite: AEP 4200 or equivalent or permission of instructor. Co-meets with AEP 5330.

Topics Covered

Curvilinear coordinates and other ways to approach velocity

Review of Newtonian mechanics, including dissipative forces (friction & drag)

Center of mass and moment of inertia I (with respect to origin at either center of mass or pivot), with application to angular momentum, torque, and kinetic energy.

Linear oscillators with damping and driving forces, or coupled oscillators

Brief introduction to nonlinear systems (the real world) – surprises include chaos!

The calculus of variations (e.g. what y(x) minimizes , given fixed endpoints?)

Lagrangians and Hamiltonians (useful for quantum, statistical mechanics, robots, …)

Motion in a central force (e.g. Earth around Sun, which helps some with electron around proton)

Brief intro to scattering (with terms like “cross section” & “solid angle”)

Accelerated reference frames (if you stick coordinate axes to Earth you get small but key corrections)

Full 3D treatment of rigid body motion (e.g. spinning tops). I will become a tensor because angular momentum is not always parallel to angular velocity .

Workload

  • Weekly problem sets, Disucssion and Lecture worksheets that count for participation [Fall 2023]
  • 1 PSET a week. Maybe 3-4 hours to complete the PSET. [Fall 2023]

General Advice

The textbook is not that rigourous, but it definetly helps make the class feel more structured. Going to discussion section is typically helpful - the worksheets sometimes have near identical problems to the problem set. [Fall 2023]

Testimonials

I felt that this class was mostly a review of PHYS 1116 (except easier at times). You really only learn a couple new topics while the rest is review. The content is presented in paragraphs on slides, and it can be hard to learn the content because of this. The homework is also in the form of paragraphs and usually it takes more time to understand what the question is asking rather than actually solving it. My biggest recommendation is to take time every week to learn the slides carefully as the exams are pretty well based off of the slides and worksheets. Rating: 2/5. [Fall 2023]

Past Offerings

Semester Professor Median Grade Syllabus
Fall 2019 Lisa Wickham B+  
Fall 2021 Lisa Wickham B+  
Fall 2023 Lisa Wickham B+? AEP3330_FA23.pdf