Classical Mechanics
Once you register for this course please send an
email to khare@physics.utoledo.edu.
General Information
Course title: Classical Mechanics
Course registration number: PHYS 6220/7220
Course credits: 3
Semester offered: Fall 2006
Class time: MWF 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
First class: Monday, 21st August 2006
Last class: Friday, 8th December 2006
Final Examination: From 10:15 a.m. through 12:15 p.m., Friday,
15th December 2006 as per university
examination schedule.
Hoilidays: As per university calendar.
Classroom: MH 4009
Class Website: http://www.physics.utoledo.edu/~khare/teaching/CM-Fall-2006/
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor
Course Text: Classical
Mechanics, 3rd Edition, Herbert Goldstein, Charles Poole
and John Safko, Addison Wesley, ISBN 0-201-65702-3
An errata index to the text has been compiled.
Other References: Classical
Dynamics of Particles and Systems, Marion
and Thornton
Analytical Mechanics, Fowles
Mechanics, Landau and Lifshitz
Schaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of Lagrangian Dynamics, Dare A. Wells, McGraw Hill, ISBN 07-069258-0
About Instructor
Instructor: Sanjay V. Khare
Title: Assistant Professor
Office: MH 5010
Phone: 419 530 2292
Email: khare@physics.utoledo.edu
Website: http://www.physics.utoledo.edu/~khare/
Office Hours: MW 15:00 -- 16:00 or by appointment
About grading
Excused absence policy to be followed according to the University guidelines.
Grading Scheme:
Homework: 30%
First Exam: 20%
Second Exam: 20%
Final Exam: 30%
Syllabus
We will cover parts of Chapters 1-6, 8, and 9 of the text. We will
not cover all chapters in their entirety. Some sections will be
omitted. Depending on student interests some modifications in the
syllabus may be accommodated. The detailed
course agenda is shown here.
Course Objectives
(i) To undestand motion of particles and bodies under the influence of
various types of forces such as gravitational, frictional,
electromagnetic, elastic, and contact forces.
(ii) To understand the derivation, modification, and application
of the variational approaches to mechanics such as the
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian methods.
(iii) To gain expertise in the formulation and solution
of problems involving forces listed in (i) and the techniques in (ii).
Expectations from students
(i) Look at the class web-site at least once either before or
after each class for the latest updates.
(ii) Submit homework in class at the beginning of the class
when due. On every homework assignment on the top front page, list
student’s name, identification number, course number, and homework number.
Each homework assignment should be stapled together or put in
a binder. Loose pages are not acceptable.
(iii) Read relevant sections from the text that will be
covered in the class. These will be announced in the preceding class.
(iv) If you are late to class or decide to leave early do so discretely
so as not to disturb others. Seat yourself towards the back exit
door if your early exit is known in advance or when you enter late.
(v) Turn off sound on watches, cell phones, pagers,
laptops and all other electronic devices while in class.
(vi) In general maintain an environment conducive to learning in
the classroom.
Tips on how to succeed in this course
(i) Understand the derivations so that you can
derive them yourself or explain them to someone else logically.
Just memorising them is not of much value.
(ii) Modify the assumptions in the derivations to come
up with entirely new derivations. Also, try adding more assumptions to
standard derivations from the text to derive results for new special
cases.
(iii) Solve lots of problems from the text or other sources.
(iv) Make up your own problems which are totally new or are
modifications of those you solve. Then solve these problems.
(v) Discuss course material with fellow students and/or senior
students.
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