Theoretical Mechanics

Catalog description

Principles of Newtonian, Lagrangian, and Hamiltonian mechanics of particles with applications to vibrations, rotations, orbital motion, and collisions. PHYS 419 / MATH 419 Theoretical Mechanics (3) A second course in classical mechanics, required of all physics majors who typically take it in their 5th or 6th semester. The course includes a review of relevant mathematics, detailed discussions of advanced topics in Newtonian mechanics, introductions to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, and applications to such forced oscillations, orbital motion, vibrational motion and normal modes, rigid body motion, and collisions.It is a prerequisite for Physics 461, which is a second semester extension. It is also a valuable background for most 400-level physics courses, especially Physics 410.