Physics 421 -- Fall 2008  Mechanics

Greetings and welcome to the home page for Physics 422, Mechanics

The syllabus contains lots of information about the course and my expectations for it.

The course will use two textbooks.
The primary textbook will be John Taylor's Classical Mechanics (referred to as "JT" in the table below),
and we will also read selections from the classic Landau and Lifshitz Mechanics (referred to as "LL", below).

Below is the schedule of topics for the course.

Week	Date	Topic	Readings	Homework
01	18 Aug	Newtonian Review	JT Chap 1-2	JT 1.27, 1.49, 2.8, 2.44, 3.16, 3.21
02	25 Aug	Newtonian Review	JT Chap 3-5	JT 3.4, 3.34, 4.24, 4.36, 5.2, 5.43
03	01 Sep	Calculus of Variations	JT Chap 6	JT 6.5, 6.10, 6.15, 6.16, 6.22, 6.25
04	08 Sep	Lagrangian Dynamics	JT Chap 7.1-7.5	JT 7.2, 7.4, 7.8, 7.10, 7.14, 7.20
05	15 Sep	Lagrangian Dynamics	LL Chap I, JT 7.6,7,&10	LL 1.4 (is there an equilibrium solution?), JT 7.23, 7.34, 7.35, 7.36, 7.37a-c
06	22 Sep	Symmetry and Conservation	LL Chap II, JT 7.8	LL 3 (p.21), JT 7.40, 7.43, 7.46, 7.50, 7.52
07	29 Sep	Hamiltonian Dynamics	JT Chap 13.1-4, LL VIII.40	JT 13.4, 13.9, 13.14, 13.23, 13.25
08	06 Oct	Hamiltonian Dynamics	JT Chap 13.5-7, LL VIII.43-45	(No homework. Do reading.)
08	10 Oct	Mid-term Examination Due 5 pm (Covers weeks 1-7)
Fall Break
09	20 Oct	Central Force Motion	JT Chap 8, LL Chap III
10	27 Oct	Central Force Motion		Three problems from handout
11	04 Nov	Non-inertial Reference Frames	JT Chap 9	JT 9.1, 9.2, 9.8, 9.13, 9.14
12	11 Nov	Non-inertial Reference Frames		JT 9.17, 9.20/24, 9.29, 9.30, 9.31
13	18 Nov	Rigid Body Rotation	JT Chap 10, LL Chap VI	JT 10.10, 10.11, 10.25, 10.27
14	25 Nov	Thanksgiving
15	01 Dec	Rigid Body Rotation		10.37, 10.42
16	08 Dec	Final Exam due 11 am

Note that we lose 28/29 Nov to Thanksgiving and the last regular day of class is 03 Dec.

Readings should be completed before the date given in the table.
Homeworks are due, in my mailbox, every Wednesday at 10:00 am.

Note that each Monday begins a new topic, so make sure to
give the homeworks a try before the weekend, so you
have a chance to ask questions about them.
Monday will not be a "last minute homework questions" day.
That's what office hours are for.

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