Home, Syllabus, Access Homework
Dr. Marcus Alfred
Thirkield Hall, room 202
202-806-6258
bisonphysics@yahoo.com
Office Hours: 4-5 Mondays, and Wednesdays
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The topics we will cover include rigid body equations of motion, oscillations, relativity, the Hamilton Equations of motion, canonical transforms, Hamilton-Jacobi theory and action angle variables, classical chaos, canonical perturbation theory, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations for continuous systems and fields.
COURSE GOALS
Students should experience phenomena describing and/or motivating the laws of physics or physics models
Students will understand the motivation and quantification of the laws of physics
Students will master the construction fundamental physics models from laws, standard techniques and standard methods
COURSE OBJECTIVES
Students will derive common physics expressions
Students will recognize common physics methods and techniques
Students will list example phenomena of physics concepts
Students will apply concepts to simple models
Students will construct theoretical models and potential experiments
Students will describe applications, phenomena, and models in terms of physics
COURSE OUTLINE
Elementary Principles
Mechanics of a particle, Mechanics of a System of particles, Constraints, D'Alembert's Prinicple and Lagranges equations
Variational Principles and Lagrange's Equations
Hamilton's Prinicple, Calculus of Variations, Conservation Theorems, Energy Function and the conservation of energy
Central Forces
the one body problem, First integrals, classification of orbits, virial theorem, differential equation for the Orbit, Integrable power law potentials, Closed orbit conditions, Kepler Problem, Scattering
Rigid Body Motion Kinematics
Independent coordinates,orthogonal transforms, properties of the transformation matrix, Euler angles, Cayley-Klein parameters, Euler's theorem, Finite rotations, infinitesimal rotations, rate of change of a vector, Coriolis effect
Rigid Body Equations of Motion
Angular momentum and KE of motion about a point, tensors, Inertia tensor and moment of inertia, eigenvalues of the inertial tensor and Principle axes, Euler equations, torque free motion, Heavy symmetrical top, precession
Oscillations
formulation of the problem, eigenvalue equation and principle axis transformation, Frequencies of free vibration and normal coordinates, linear triatomic molecule, forced vibrations
INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS
Challenging questions
Short answer exercises
Demonstrations
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND POLICIES
Course prerequisite or corequisite:
Attendance: Attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended. Many homework and exam problems will be based on work and examples done in class.
Homework: Homework will be assigned each week on a Monday. It will be due the following Monday in lecture. Each assignment will be approximately 5 problems. Each homework assignment will be approximately 100 points. THERE IS NO LATE HOMEWORK!
Exams: The midterm exam is worth 20% of your grade. The final exam is worth 30% of your grade. The midterm is on Friday, 10/09/09 in class. The final is on 12/03/09 from 10am - 12 noon in room 111. All exams are closed book and no electronic devices are allowed. Bring only a pen and pencil.
Grades: A student’s grades in the class are based on a composition of 50% homework, and 50% for the exams.
Cheating: Cheating of any kind will not be tolerated. Please refer to the Howard University Handbook (H - book) for university guidelines on cheating. No talking under any circumstances is permitted during an exam. If help is needed simply contact the instructor. In addition, only a pencil is required for all exams; notebooks, calculators, and scratch paper will not be needed.
Required Textbook: Goldstein, Poole, and Safko. Classical Mechanics. Third edition, Addison-Wesley. San Francisco.
General Policies: All lectures and recitations may be videotaped and NOT made available to the general public.
Howard University is committed to providing an educational environment that is accessible to all students. In accordance with this commitment, students in need of accommodations due to a disability should contact the Office of the Dean for Special Student Services for verification and determination of reasonable accommodations as soon as possible after admission to the University, or at the beginning of each academic semester. The Dean of the Office for Special Student Services, Dr. Barbara Williams, may be reached at 202-238-2420
TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1: Welcome, Orientation, (8/24/09 - 8/28/09)
WEEK 2: Chap 1: Elementary Principles(8/31/09 - 9/4/09)
WEEK 3: Chap 1: Elementary Principles(9/7/09 - 9/11/09)
WEEK 4: Chap 2: Variational Principles & Lagrange's Equations(9/14/09 - 9/18/09)
WEEK 5: Chap 2: Variational Principles & Lagrange's Equations(9/21/09 - 9/25/09)
WEEK 6: Chap 3: Central Forces(9/28/09 - 10/02/09)
WEEK 7: Chap 3: Central Forces(10/05/09 - 10/09/09)
WEEK 8: Chap 4: Rigid Body Kinematics (10/12/09 - 10/16/09)
WEEK 9: Chap 4: Rigid Body Kinematics (10/19/09 - 10/23/09)
WEEK 10: Chap 4: Rigid Body Kinematics (10/26/09 - 10/30/09)
WEEK 11: Chap 5: Rigid Body Equations of Motion (11/02/09 - 11/06/09)
WEEK 12: Chap 5: Rigid Body Equations of Motion (11/09/09 - 11/13/09)
WEEK 13: Chap 5&6: Rigid Body Equations of Motion and Oscillations(11/16/09 - 11/20/09)
WEEK 14: Chap 6: Oscillations(11/23/09 - 11/25/09)
WEEK 15: Chap 6: Oscillations (11/30/09 - 12/04/09)
HOMEWORK HELP
Help with homework is available most days in room 207 in the physics building from 5-7pm.