Physics 6321 - Classical Mechanics

Course Information - Spring 2022

• Coronavirus Impact: Masks are required in this course. This masking policy is subject to change during the semester, and any changes will be posted clearly here and in Canvas announcements. You should also be prepared to go fully online if the need should arise.
• Lecturer: Professor Randall J. Scalise
  
• Lecture meeting times and place: MWF 11:00-11:50am Fondren Science Building 157
  
• Contact:
  • Call or leave a message at 768-2504, or
  • Leave a note in the Physics Department Office - 102 Fondren Science, or
  • send me e-mail: <scalise@smu.edu>
  
  
• Text: Classical Mechanics, 3rd edition by Goldstein
• Grading:
  • Homework - 60% (drop lowest)
  • Midterm Examination - 20%
  • Final Examination - 20%
  
  
  
• Exam Dates: Open book, open notes, open Mathematica, don't Google for solutions.
  • Midterm - Monday 28 March 2022 in class via Zoom
  • Final Exam (Cumulative) - Thursday 5 MAY 2022 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM online via Zoom
  
  
  
• Lecture Notes:
  • Lecture 1
  • Lecture 2
  • Lecture 3 Lagrange multiplier example
  • Lecture 4 Iron 56 is not the most tightly bound nucleus
  • Lecture 5
  • Lecture 6
  • Lecture 7
  • Lecture 8
  • Lecture 9
  • Lecture 10
  • Lecture 11 See also Planetary Orbit Simulator and Planetary Motion
  • Lecture 12 Force proportional to acceleration looks like mass changes
  • Lecture 13 Quantum scattering notes 1, Quantum scattering notes 2, The SO(4) Symmetry of the Hydrogen Atom by Sean J. Weinberg
  • Lecture 14
  • Lecture 15
  • Lecture 16
  • Lecture 17
    • Rotations
  • Lecture 18
  • Lecture 19
    • Quaternions and spatial rotation
    • SU(2), SO(3), and the Dirac belt trick
  • Lecture 20
  • Lecture 21
  • Lecture 22
  • Lecture 23
    • Galilean Relativity, Lorentz transformation derived
    • another derivation of the Lorentz tranformation
    • Consequences of Einsteinian Relativity, Tensors
    • Relativistic Mechanics
    • Relativistic Electrodynamics
    • Terrell rotation, video
    • The Clock Hypothesis 1
    • The Clock Hypothesis 2
    • Velocity-addition_formula
    • Rapidity
    • Pseudorapidity
  • Lecture 24
  • Lecture 25
    • Hamiltonian
  
  
• Syllabus
• Students with disabilities, medically excused absences, absences in general
• Official University Calendar
  
  
• 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.
  
  
  • HW01 due Wednesday 26 January 2022 at 11:59:59pm - Read chapter 1; Goldstein problems 1.7, 1.8, 1.16, 1.19, 1.22.
  • HW02 due Wednesday 2 February 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  • HW03 due Wednesday 9 February 2022 at 11:59:59pm - Read chapter 2
  • HW04 due Wednesday 16 February 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  • HW05 due Wednesday 23 February 2022 at 11:59:59pm - Read chapter 3
  • HW06 due Wednesday 2 March 2022 at 11:59:59pm - material for the midterm stops here
  • HW07 due Wednesday 9 March 2022 at 11:59:59pm - Read chapter 4
  • No homework due on Wednesday 16 March 2022 because of Spring Break
  • HW08 due Wednesday 23 March 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  • No homework due on Wednesday 30 March 2022 because of the midterm on Monday 28 March 2022
  • HW09 due Wednesday 6 April 2022 at 11:59:59pm - Turn in the two exam problems that you skipped and fix any mistakes that you made on the other two problems.
  • HW10 due Wednesday 13 April 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  • HW11 due Wednesday 20 April 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  • HW12 due Wednesday 27 April 2022 at 11:59:59pm
  
  
• Homework Solutions
  
  
• Student learning outcome: Students will be able to apply their knowledge of classical mechanics in solving physics problems.
• Other resources
  
  • Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, by Jerry B. Marion and Stephen T. Thornton
  • Classical Mechanics, by John R. Taylor
  • Introduction to Classical Mechanics, by David Morin
  • Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua, by Alexander L. Fetter and John D. Walecka
  • Mechanics, by Lev D. Landau and Evgeny M. Lifshitz
  • Mathematica tutorial
  • Classical Mechanics is not deterministic
• SMU Required Syllabus Statements

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