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General Information about Physics 2301

Course title:

Physics 2301: Intermediate Mechanics (part 2)

Texts:

Introduction to Classical Mechanics by D. Morin (available as an ebook)

Basic Training in Mathematics by Shankar (first few chapters available as Google preview)

Topics to be covered:

Vector Angular Momentum

Rigid Body motion

Accelerated Frames

Relativity

Oscillations, including damping, driving and coupling

More math methods (linear algebra, complex numbers, Fourier series)

and more with Mathematica

Meeting Schedule:

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday either 9.10am-10.05am in McPherson 1015, or 11.30am-12.25pm in Scott E0001

Holidays this term: MLK Day (Mon Jan 20), Spring Break (Mon-Fri, Mar 9-13)

Grade Weighting:

Assigned problems [30%]

Midterm #1 [20%]: Thursday Feb 13 7-9pm in SM1153

Midterm #2 [20%]: Saturday Mar 28, takehome on Carmen-- think of it as a 2hr exam, but you can take 5 hours if you want. Your choice of time.

Final [30%]: Wednesday Apr 29 takehome via Carmen quiz, just like the midterm. Five hour window of your choice, available all day.

Instructor:

Prof. Gregory Kilcup
office: M2030 Physics Research Building
email: kilcup.1@osu.edu
phone: 946-0276

Office Hours: Tues-Fri 10.20-11.20am in Smith1011, plus more

Undergrad Tutors:

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Problem Sets

• Hwk #1, due Wednesday Jan 15
• Hwk #2, due Wednesday Jan 22
• Hwk #3, due Wednesday Jan 29
• Hwk #4, due Wednesday Feb 5
• Hwk #5, due Wednesday Feb 12
• Hwk #6, due Wednesday Feb 26
• Hwk #7, due Thursday Mar 5, which refers to this notebook for making spacetime diagrams.
• Hwk #8, due Thursday Mar 26
• Hwk #9, due Wednesday April 8
• Hwk #10, due Wednesday April 15
• Hwk #11, due Thursday April 23

Handouts and Links

• Math notebook for Jan 09
• Math notebook for Jan 23
• The story of Feynman and the wobbling plate
• Math notebook to visualize the wobbling coin
• Astronaut Michael Foale's Mathematica notebook and story of being aboard the crippled Mir spacestation.
• A notebook for Jan 31.
• A notebook for Feb 07.
• The first relativity tutorial to do in class on Feb 18 and 19.
• The original "On the electrodynamics of moving bodies" paper, in English or auf Deutsch.
• The parable of the surveyors
• Einstein's E=mc² paper
• The third relativity tutorial to do in class on March 5.
• A notebook for March 05
• A notebook for March 06
• A notebook for April 1
• A notebook on Coupled Springs for April 7
• A Mathematica package for plotting complex valued functions
• A Mathematica notebook to visualize several coupled springs
• A notebook to visualize coupled and driven oscillators
• A highly recommended Smarter Every Day video on Fourier series, containing Destin's homework problem among other things.
• And a 3Blue1Brown video on Fourier Series
• A notebook on Fourier analysis
• A notebook which animates sample problem Morin 6.45
• The notebook used in class Tuesday 21 April

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Video lectures

• 2301Wk01 OmegaVector An introduction to the spin vector.
• 2301Wk01 Millstone A first discussion of principal directions in the context of the millstone homework problem.
• 2301Wk01 Matrices A first discussion of matrices.
• 2301Wk02 PrincipalDirections More on principal directions.
• 2301Wk02 Ch9Problems1 A sample chapter 9 problem where we find L given omega.
• 2301Wk02 Ch9Problems2 A sample chapter 9 problem where we find omega given L.
• 2301Wk02 MatrixDetInv2 The determinant and inverse of a 2x2 matrix.
• 2301Wk02 LinearMath1 Linear algebra using Mathematica. Meant to be viewed in conjunction with the LinearMath1 Mathematica notebook
• 2301Wk03 LinearMath2 More linear algebra, including the moment of inertia matrix. Meant to be viewed in conjunction with the LinearMath2 Mathematica notebook
• 2301Wk03 LinearMath3 More linear algebra. New vocabulary terms: transpose, symmetric, anti-symmetric and orthogonal.
• 2301Wk03 TorqueFreePrecession The wobble rate for a symmetric top.
• 2301Wk04 EulersEquations Euler's equations and the tennis racquet theorem..
• 2301Wk04 Ch9Problems3 A sample Chapter 9 problem with trigonometry.
• 2301Wk04 FictitiousForces Introduction to the centrifugal and Coriolis forces.
• 2301Wk05 TheBeadOnARodRedux The bead-on-a-rod problem redone, now with fictitious forces.
• 2301Wk05 MasseShot Just for fun let's figure out the trectory of a spinning cue ball.
• 2301Wk05 Tides Tidal forces and the tidal potential.
• 2301Wk06 Midterm1 A few problems from previous midterms.
• 2301Wk07 Relativity1 The background to Einstein's theory of relativity: Galileo, Michelson and Morley.
• 2301Wk07 TaylorSeries The basics of Taylor series.
• 2301Wk07 Relativity2 The fundamental effects and the Lorentz transformation.
• 2301Wk08 Relativity3 Spacetime diagrams, the invariant interval, and the relativistic addition of velocities.
• 2301Wk08 ConvergenceOfSeries More on series, meant to be viewed with this Mathematica notebook
• 2301Wk08 AlanMeetsBeth More spacetime diagrams, drawn using this Mathematica notebook
• 2301Wk08 ManipulatingTaylorSeries Some examples of how we manipulate Taylor series.
• 2301Wk09 HouseAndTree, a spacetime story of a train passing a tree and a house, as told in Morin problem 11.41
• 2301Wk09 Relativity4 Relativistic momentum and energy. Four vectors.
• 2301Wk09 Rapidity Rapidity is the "angle" by which we "rotate" when doing a Lorentz transformation.
• 2301Wk09 Hwk07Hints Some comments on the current homework.
• 2301Wk10 Relativity5 Using four vectors in collision/decay problems.
• 2301Wk10 Hwk08Hints Comments on the problems of set #8.
• 2301Wk11 Midterm2 What to expect on midterm #2, with a couple of solved problems.
• 2301Wk12 Complex Numbers The basics of what we will need for the next few weeks.
• 2301Wk12 What is I I is a rotation by π/2.
• 2301Wk12 Springs1 The damped harmonic oscillator, now using complex numbers.
• 2301Wk12 Springs2 How to solve our "base case" coupled oscillator problem using eigenvectors.
• 2301Wk12 Coupled Oscillators Another sample coupled oscillator problem solved with eigenvectors.
• 2301Wk13 Hwk09Hints Comments and hints to get you going on problem set 9.
• 2301Wk13 Springs3 The driven damped oscillator. Meant to be viewed in conjunction with this Springs3 notebook
• 2301Wk14 Hwk10Hints More on driven, damped and coupled springs, as they appear in homework set 10.
• 2301Wk15 FourierSeries What you need for homework 11.
• 2301Wk15 Lagrangians All about Lagrangians