Physics | 8.01SC Physics I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 2010 Physics | 8.02SC Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism, Fall 2010 Classical Mechanics John Baez Here are some course notes and homework problems for a mathematics graduate course on classical mechanics. There are two versions of the course: The second course reviews a lot of basic differential geometry. Gregory L. Everyone should read some books on classical mechanics, too! Herbert Goldstein, Charles Poole, and John Safko, Classical Mechanics, Addison Wesley, San Francisco, 2002. And here's a famous book that's closer to the style of this course: Vladimir I. Lagrangian approach In the Spring of 2005 we started with the Lagrangian approach to classical mechanics, with a heavy emphasis on action principles. Here are Derek's original hand-written notes: Week 1 (Mar. 28, 30, Apr. 1) - The Lagrangian approach to classical mechanics: deriving F = ma from the requirement that the particle's path be a critical point of the action. Homework on A spring in imaginary time. Answers by Garett Leskowitz. Homework on The pendulum, elliptic functions and imaginary time. Hamiltonian approach
Lecture 1: Powers of Ten - Units - Dimensions - Measurements - Uncertainties - Dimensional Analysis - Scaling Arguments 1. Fundamental Units: The fundamental units are length, time and mass. 2. Powers of Ten: "The Powers of Ten" (© Charles & Ray Eames and Pyramid Media) movie, covering 40 orders of magnitude, has been removed from the video for reasons of copyright. 3. Dimensions are denoted with brackets; some examples are given. 4. A measurement is meaningless without knowledge of its uncertainty. 5. Why are mammals as large as they are, and not much larger? 6. The dimensions of both sides of the equation must be the same; this is non-negotiable in physics. Would you like to put a link to this lecture on your homepage? Topics: AQME Advancing Quantum Mechanics for Engineers Introduction to Advancing Quantum Mechanics for Engineers and Physicists “Advancing Quantum Mechanics for Engineers” (AQME) toolbox is an assemblage of individually authored tools that, used in concert, offer educators and students a one-stop-shop for semiconductor education. The AQME toolbox holds a set of easily employable nanoHUB tools appropriate for teaching a quantum mechanics class in either engineering or physics. Users no longer have to search the nanoHUB to find the appropriate applications for discovery that are related to quantum mechanics; users, both instructors and students, can simply log in and take advantage of the assembled tools and associated materials such as homework or project assignments. Thanks to its contributors, nanoHUB users and AQME’s toolbox have benefited tremendously from the hard work invested in tools development. Participation in this open source, interactive educational initiative is vital to its success, and all nanoHUB users can: Available resource: