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Calendar

LEC # TOPICS READINGS KEY CONCEPTS EXAMPLES
1 General Introduction (for Lectures 1 and 2) Kleppner-Kolenkow 1.1-1.8 (but don't worry about cross-products yet); 2.1-2.3; (for Lectures 1-5) BCG 1-3. Scope and limits of classical mechanics, Space model - triples of real numbers; Time model - real numbers; Position, velocity, acceleration; Vector; Mass; Newton's 0th law; mass is not weight! Galileo's ship.
2 Newton's First and Second Laws; Operations with Vectors; Units (for Lectures 1 and 2) Kleppner-Kolenkow 1.1-1.8 (but don't worry about cross-products yet); 2.1-2.3; (for Lectures 1-5) BCG 1-3. Addition of vectors; Multiplication of vectors by scalars; Components of vectors; F=ma (vectors!); Inertial frame; Composition of motion; Dot product; work; Balance of units; dimensional analysis. Einstein's elevator; Artillery range; Uniform acceleration and circular motion using dimensional analysis.
3 Newton's Third Law; Examples With Friction, Ropes, Pulleys K+K pp. 68-75; 87-94; (for Lectures 1-5) BCG 1-3. Reaction forces; Force diagrams; Constraints; Coefficients of friction; Analyzing extended objects: ropes and pulleys point-by-point. Resting and sliding blocks; Skaters and trains; Jean Valjean (-> challenge problem 2); Tug-of-War; Whirling rope; 'centrifugal force'.
4 Velocity and Acceleration in Polar Coordinates; More Examples Using Newton's Laws K+K 1.9; pp. 76-86; (for Lectures 1-5) BCG 1-3. Unit radius and angle vectors; Radial and angular velocity; Radial and angular acceleration; expected and 'extra'; 'Extra' pieces of the acceleration: centrifugal and Coriolis terms. Whirling block; Rotating bucket; Common pendulum; Conical pendulum.
5 More Forces: Gravity, Springs K+K 1.9; pp. 95-103; (for Lectures 1-5) BCG 1-3. Newton's law of gravity; Gravitational force from a shell; Hooke's 'law'. Kepler's 3rd law for circular orbits; Building up the shell-force by integration; Spring gun.
6 Spillover from 1-5

After this lecture, we will have covered K+K chapters 1-2 and BCG 1-3. Now is a good time to take a deep breath and review all this.

7 Momentum; Center of Mass; Conservation of Momentum

K+K 3.1-3.3, Note 3.1; (for Lectures 7-8) BCG 5-6.
[Note: Our two books do not quite treat the material in the same sequence, but in total the first 4 chapters of K+K correspond pretty closely to the first 7 chapters of BCG. A good strategy might be to quickly scan BCG 1-7 and then to look up specific topics in its Table of Contents as we work through K+K systematically]

"Quantity of motion" and the reformulation of Newton's 2nd law; 2nd law for systems; center of mass; conservation law. Planetary and lunar motions; Coupled springs (push me-pull you).
8 Applications of Momentum: Impulse; Variable Mass Problems (Recoil); Collisions; Pressure

K+K 3.4-3.6; (for Lectures 7-8) BCG 5-6.
[Note: Our two books do not quite treat the material in the same sequence, but in total the first 4 chapters of K+K correspond pretty closely to the first 7 chapters of BCG. A good strategy might be to quickly scan BCG 1-7 and then to look up specific topics in its Table of Contents as we work through K+K systematically]

Impulse and momentum change; rocket equation; origin of pressure from random motion. Skaters; cannon; rocket; suspended garbage can.
9 Spillover from 7 & 8

We will now have covered all the material in K+K chapters 1-3, except for vector cross-products. The quiz will be drawn from this material.

10 First Concepts in Energy K+K 4.1-4.4; (for lectures 10-12) BCG 4, 7. Integrating equation of motion with respect to position; work-energy theorem; potential energy; potential energy for springs and for gravity; contact forces that do no work; friction does positive work; for rigid bodies, internal forces do no work. Pendulum return, loop-the-loop, escape velocity.
11 More on Energy K+K 4.5-4.13; (for lectures 10-12) BCG 4, 7. Work-energy theorem for systems; for rigid bodies, internal forces do no work; energy in gravitating systems; models of internal energy; energy diagrams; equilibria and stability; small oscillations around equilibrium. Ballistic pendulum, velocity converter, stability of teeter-totter.
12 Energy Round-Up K+K 4.14, browse chapter 5; (for lectures 10-12) BCG 4, 7. Collisions using energy conservation, conditions for a force-field to be conservative, energy landscape. Virial theorem.
13 Planetary Motion: Clearing the Underbrush K+K pages 6-8 (cross product); 9.1-9.5. You should also look at 6.2. Angular momentum for particles, separation of center-of-mass and relative coordinates, effective energy diagram. Angular frenzy at approach to the center; two-body "steady motion"' and three-body shenanigans in planetary simulations.
14 Planetary Motion: Getting the Orbits 9.5-9.7. You should also read through the appendices, though it is certainly not necessary to memorize the details. Motion of planets and comets in conic sections; Kepler's laws. More simulations; Lagrange configuration.
15 Spillover from 13-14
16 Relative Motion: Concepts and Equations (for lectures 16-17) K+K chapter 8. Note that sections 8.1-8.4 are mostly review of things we discussed earlier.
There is a small bit of material on accelerated frames in BCG chapter 6, and some discussion of rotation kinematics in the early parts of chapters 8 and 9, including use of cross-products.
Fictitious force, small rotations, vector angular velocity, master formula for vectors in rotating frame, master formula for dynamics in rotating frame. Einstein elevator; gyro, centrifugal, and Coriolis terms. (Lecture 17 will be entirely examples and applications!)
17 Relative Motion: Examples and Applications (for lectures 16-17) K+K chapter 8. Note that sections 8.1-8.4 are mostly review of things we discussed earlier.
There is a small bit of material on accelerated frames in BCG chapter 6, and some discussion of rotation kinematics in the early parts of chapters 8 and 9, including use of cross-products.
Red shift, tidal force, Foucault pendulum. Gravity red shift from equivalence principle, nature of the tides, deflection of dropped ball, motion of Foucault pendulum, weather systems.
18 Basic Angular Momentum Concepts K+K 6.1-6.3, 7.5; (for lectures 18-21) BCG 8-9. Angular momentum, torque, cancellation of internal torques, equations of statics. Gravitational capture, rod-pendulum, lever, motorcycle lift-off.
19 Mainly Dynamics of Fixed-Axis Rotation K+K 6.4-6.6; (for lectures 18-21) BCG 8-9. Conservation of angular momentum, moment of inertia, parallel axis theorem. Skater, barstool shenanigans, physical pendulum, physical Atwood's machine.
20 Combining Rotation and Translation K+K 6.7. You may also enjoy reading 6.8, which is historical/cultural, and Note 6.2, which discusses the pendulum without assuming small oscillations. The result of Note 6.1 is important, but it can be derived much more simply (as I'll discuss); (for lectures 18-21) BCG 8-9. Expression for angular momentum and torque separating out center-of-mass translation, energy in rotation, expression for the energy separating out center-of-mass translation. Objects rolling down inclines. The next lecture is entirely devoted to two hard examples.
21 Two Worked Examples

K+K problems 6.40, 6.41; (for lectures 18-21) BCG 8-9.
In this Lecture, I'll work K+K problems 6.40 and 6.41 in detail. This will give us a good work-out in most of the concepts developed in the course so far.

22 Introduction to Gyroscopic Phenomena

K+K chapter 7; Lecture notes points 71-76.
Note: I will only scratch the surface of a rich and difficult subject. I realize there are many pressures and demands on your time at this point in the semester. So the following might be a sensible strategy: get acquainted with the subject by browsing through the reading and relating what you saw demonstrated in class, but put off a serious confrontation until conditions are more favorable. For example, you might want to do some of the problems at the end of chapter 7 during the break between semesters. I would be happy to provide some feedback and supply further references for any of you who'd like to explore further.

Vector nature of angular momentum, precession, conservation of vector angular momentum (its transfer between parts of a system), nutation. Bicycle wheel precession, barstool shenanigans II, nutation, gyrocompass, applications to astronomy, stabilization, and inertial guidance.
23 Guest Lecture: Chaos in the Solar System, by Jack Wisdom

Note: I hope you found this lecture as interesting and inspiring as I did. There is a good semi-popular account of the subject by Ivars Petersen, titled "Newton's Clock". Again, if any of you would like to explore the subject in more depth, I can supply some guidance (or you might try Professor Wisdom!).

24 Euler Disk

In this final lecture, I return to the demonstration given at the beginning of the course, and explain the main phenomena of the Euler disk based on what we've learned about classical mechanics.