Physics 3344 - Classical Mechanics

Course Information - Fall 2016

• Lecturer: Professor Randall J. Scalise
• Lecture meeting times and place: MWF 1-1:50PM in room 157 Fondren Science
• Office hours: by appointment.
• Contact:
  • Call or leave a message at 768-2504, or
  • Leave a note in the Physics Department Office - 106 Fondren Science, or
  • send me e-mail: <scalise@smu.edu>
• Text: Classical Mechanics by John R. Taylor
• Old Lecture Notes from Marion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
  New lecture notes are on the syllabus webpage.
• Exam Dates: Open book, open notes, closed internet.
  • Midterm - Friday 7 October 2016
  • Final - Friday 9 December 2016 - 11:30 AM-2:30 PM
• Grading:
  • Homework - 60%
  • Midterm - 20%
  • Final - 20%
• Syllabus
• Homework Assignments Due dates are strictly enforced. 50% if late; 0% once the solutions are posted. You may work together, but the work that you turn in should be unique. Identical work will receive a grade that is divided among all parties. It is possible to find answers to some homework problems on the internet; do not do this. The point, after all, is not to fool me into thinking that you have learned physics, but rather actually to learn some physics.
  • Assignment #1 due Wednesday 31 August 2016 at 1:00PM
  • Assignment #2 due Wednesday
  • Assignment #3 due Wednesday
  • Assignment #4 due Wednesday
  • No homework due on ??? because of the midterm exam.
  • No homework due on ??? because of Fall Break.
  • Assignment #5 due
  • Assignment #6 due
  • Assignment #7 due
  • Assignment #8 due
  • Assignment #9 due
  • Assignment #10 due
  
  
  
• Homework Solutions
  
  
• Recommended Reading:
  • Classical Dynamics by Marion and Thornton
  • Classical Mechanics 2nd ed. by Vernon D. Barger and Martin G. Olsson
  • Chaos by James Gleick
  • Mathematica Manual by Stephen Wolfram
  • Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein
• Student learning outcome: Students will be able to apply their knowledge of classical mechanics in solving physics problems.
• Relevant Web Sites:
  • On Determinism - by Sean Carroll
  • Nondeterminism in Classical Mechanics
  • Physicists Discover a Whopping 13 New Solutions to Three-Body Problem
  • Lorenz - Chaos mpeg movie. A demonstration of sensitive dependence on initial conditions for a Lorentzian non-linear system. You will see a string of 100 initial conditions which evolve over time.Credit goes to Tom Doucett trd@christa.unh.edu (thanks also to Kevin Short).
  • Follow - Chaos mpeg movie. The synchronization of two chaotic systems. The systems here are based on the Lorenz equations, where the x-coordinate of the first system is used to drive the second system into synchrony. You will see two traces representing the two systems. The traces will converge when synchrony is achieved. The second system will be "kicked out" again after convergence, so you can see that it resynchronizes quickly. Credit for the mpeg file again to: Tom Doucette, trd@christa.unh.edu
  • Colliding Galaxies
  • Gamelan Physics JAVA Applets
  • Centrifugal and Coriolis Java Applets
  • Frank Potter's Science Gems
  • C-ship - explore special relativity through starship flight simulation.
  • Relativity Links: Sites, movies, and literature.
  • Nobel Laureates in Physics
  • Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
  • Physicists on the Money
  • Images of Famous Physicists (from UCSB)
  • Pictures of Famous Physicists
  • Contributions of Women to Physics
  • The Annals of Improbable Research
  • Schaum's Theory and Problems of Theoretical Mechanics by Murray R. Spiegel
  • Schaum's Outline of Lagrangian Dynamics by Dare A. Wells

Back to Professor Scalise's Home Page