Classical Mechanics
General Information
Course title: Classical Mechanics
Course registration number: PHYS 6220/7220
Course credits: 3
Semester offered: Fall 2008
Class time: MWF 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
First class: Monday, 25^st August 2008
Last class: Friday, 12^th December 2008
Final Examination: From 10:15 a.m. through 12:15 p.m., Friday, 19^th December 2008 as per university examination schedule and Fall 2008 Schedule of Classes.
Hoilidays: 01 September, 20 and 21 October, 11, 26-28 November; as per university calendar.
Classroom: MH 4012
Class Website: http://astro1.panet.utoledo.edu/~khare/teaching/cm-fall-2008/
Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor
Course Text: Classical Mechanics, 3^rd 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: Sanjay.Khare (at) utoledo.edu
Website: http://astro1.panet.utoledo.edu/~khare/
Office Hours: MW 16:00 -- 17:00 or by appointment

About grading
Excused absence policy to be followed according to the University guidelines.
Grading Scheme:
Homework: 35%
Quizzes: 5%
First Exam: 15%
Second Exam: 15%
Third Exam: 15%
Final Exam: 15%

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.
(vii) Complete all homework and examinations honestly.
(viii) Please do not bring any food or drinks inside the classroom.
(ix) If you have any disabilities hindering your ability to follow any of these rules and/or needing any special considerations bring them to the attention of the instructor immediately.

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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