Classical Mechanics

Catalog description

The formulation of classical mechanics represents a major milestone in our intellectual and technological history as the first mathematical abstraction of physical theory from empirical observations. This achievement is rightly accorded to Isaac Newton, who first translated the interpretation of various physical observations into a compact mathematical theory. More than three centuries of experience indicate that mechanical behavior in the everyday domain can be understood from Newton's theories. Topics in this course include elementary dynamics in one and two dimensions, gravitational forces and potentials, free and forced harmonic oscillations, central fields and the motions of planets and satellites, Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations, small oscillations, and normal mode analysis. Previously PHYS 2226.