CCNY - MECHANICS - PHYS 35100 - Fall 2024

Instructor:

• Prof. James Hedberg
• Marshak Science 423A
• jhedberg@ccny.cuny.edu

Course Web Page: https://hedberg.ccnysites.cuny.edu/PHYS351/

Class times:

• Lecture: Mondays & Wednesdays 12-1:40, In Person, MR 417-N

Office Hours:

• M & W 10-11 am

Required Textbook:

• Classical Mechanics, John R. Taylor

Other Books that might be useful

• Analytical Mechanics, , G. Fowles and G. Cassiday
• Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, S. Thornton and J. Marion

Other Materials:

• Computer

Course Description

Newton's laws; Systems of particles; Small oscillations; Central forces and planetary motion; Rotations and rotating coordinate system; Introduction to rigid body motion; Lagrangian dynamics; Introduction to Hamiltonian dynamics. Prereq: PHYS 20800; MATH 39100; Co-req: MATH 34600 (required for Physics majors). 4 hr./wk.; 4 cr.

Grading

• Homework: 20%
• Project: 10%
• Quizzes: 20%
• Midterms: 20%
• Final: 20%
• Participation/In-Class: 10%

Homework

Homework will be assigned roughly bi-weekly. These will consist of both pencil and paper type theory work, as well as computational, i.e. code based tasks. Homework submitted after the due date will not receive credit.

In Class Quizzes

There will be regular (i.e. almost daily) in class activities as well as 4-5 short quizzes requiring written work to be submitted during class.

Midterms and Final

Midterm exams (2) will be held during class period. The final will be held during the college's final exam period (tbd).

Project

A written report/project will be due by the last day of class. To be discussed later.

Academic Integrity

The university has a published policy on academic integrity that may be found at: http://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/la/Academic_Integrity_Policy.pdf Ignorance of this policy is no excuse. A student who cheats or plagiarizes may incur academic and disciplinary penalties, including failing grades, suspensions, or expulsion.

Policies specific for this course and some clarifications regarding what constitutes unacceptable academic dishonesty: For homework, you may work with classmates but you will be required to submit your own homework. Posting HW questions verbatim (word for word) to online homework helping sites or forums (Chegg, Yahoo answers for example) in the hopes of having someone else provide you with a solution is considered unacceptable behavior. This can and will lead to adverse actions including removal from the course.

Some relevant excerpts from the CUNY Academic Integrity Policy:

• 1.1 Cheating is the unauthorized use or attempted use of material, information, notes, study aids, devices or communication during an academic exercise. Example of cheating include:
  • Copying from another student or allowing others to copy work submitted for credit or a grade.
  • Submitting someone else's work as your own, including, but not limited to, material obtained in whole or in part from commercial study or homework help websites, or content generated or altered by digital paraphrasing tools.
  • Fabricating and/or falsifying data (in whole or in part).
• 1.2. Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person's ideas, research or writing as your own.
  • Copying another person's actual words or images without the use of quotation marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source.
  • Presenting another person's ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source.
• 1.3 Obtaining Unfair Advantage is any action taken by a student that gives that student an unfair advantage in his/her academic work over another student, or an action taken by a student through which a student attempts to gain an unfair advantage in his or her academic work over another student.

Also, regarding AI generated content, as recommended by the University Faculty Senate, we will adopt the following clause: "Unauthorized use of AI-generated content on assignments or examinations unless an instructor for a given course specifically authorizes their use. Some instructors may approve of using generative AI tools in the academic setting for specific goals. However, these tools should be used only with the explicit and clear permission of each individual instructor, and then only in the ways allowed by the instructor."

Other Issues

Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend every class session of each course in which they are enrolled and to be on time. The professor has the right to drop the student from the course for excessive absences. For this course, two weeks of unexcused absences will constitute an excess of absences. When a student is dropped from the course due to excessive absences, the Registrar will enter the grade of WU.

Incompletes

Incomplete (INC) grades are given following the CCNY guidelines. (In short, INC are not to be used as a way out when the end of the semester gets too busy. There will need to be a documented, extenuating circumstance to enter a INC agreement)

Communication

To stay within the guidelines of FERPA, we will only reply to your official CCNY or CUNY mail. Please do not use your gmail or other personal accounts to communicate regarding course activities. Also, be professional in your communications. Include your name, course number, and EMPLID if you expect administrative actions to be needed.

Disability Statement

In compliance with CCNY policy and equal access laws, appropriate academic accommodations are offered by the AccessAbility Center. Students who are registered with the AccessAbility office and are entitled to specific accommodations must arrange to have the Office notify the Professor in writing of their status at the beginning of the semester. If specific accommodations are required for a test, students must present the instructor with a form from the Accessibility Office at least one week prior to the test date in order to receive their accommodations.

Course Objectives:

After successfully completing this course, students should be able to

1. understand basic Newtonian dynamics using vectors and vector calculus
2. understand linear oscillations, Fourier series
3. understand gravitation, gravitational potential
4. develop a working knowledge of the calculus of variations
5. understand Hamilton's variational principle, how it applies to classical dynamics
6. How to construct the Lagrangian and apply Lagrangian dynamics to various problems
7. understand the motion of planets and other central force examples
8. understand notions of center of mass and relative coordinates
9. understand rotations and motion in non-inertial frames
10. understand rotational motion of rigid bodies and Euler's equations
11. understand coupled oscillations
12. understand how continuous systems can be described as limits of systems of particles
13. Elements of special relativity, Lorentz transformations

Topics Covered

1. Matrices, vectors and vector calculus
2. Newtonian Mechanics of a single particle
3. Linear oscillations
4. Nonlinear oscillations and chaos
5. Gravitation
6. Calculus of variations
7. Hamilton's principle, Lagrangian Mechanics
8. Central force motion
9. Systems of particles
10. Dynamics in non-inertial frames
11. Rigid body dynamics
12. Coupled oscillations
13. Continuous systems and waves
14. Special theory of relativity

Course Schedule