Physics 361
Classical Mechanics
Syllabus - Spring 2016
Lecturer
Dr. Anatoli Frishman
frishman@iastate.edu
Lecture hours:
Office hours:
M W F 11:00 - 11:50 am in room 2354 Gilman
Immediately after lecture, and by appointment
Course Secretary
Deb Schmidt
debs@iastate.edu
Text Book:
Web Page:
210 Physics Bldg
294-9361
12 Physics Bldg
294-4936
"Classical Mechanics", by John R. Taylor
http://course.physastro.iastate.edu/phys361
Exam Information: Two midterm exams will be held during classes. The Final is comprehensive. Formula
sheets will be provided.
Makeup Exams: Under extreme circumstances (illness, family emergency, university sponsored activities), it
may be possible to take a single, end-of-semester, makeup exam that will be given prior to the final exam and will
be a comprehensive exam. Clearly only one exam can be made up in this manner. You must request a
makeup before the exam (that you expect to miss) starts. Requests can be made to the lecturer or the course
secretary.
Homework: Homework assignments are individual work. They will be posted on the course Web Page.
Grading Scheme:
Exam #1
= 20%
Exam #2
= 20%
Final Exam
= 30%
Homework + quizzes = 30%
Total
= 100%
Course outline
 Chapter 1. Newton’s Laws of Motion. Newton’s First and Second Laws; Inertial Frames. The Third Law and
Conservation of Momentum. Newton’s Second Law in Cartesian and Polar Coordinates.
 Chapter 2. Projectiles and Charged Particles. Air Resistance, Linear and Quadratic. Motion of a charge in a
Uniform Magnetic Field. Solution for the Charge in a B Field.
 Chapter 3. Momentum and Angular Momentum. Conservation of Momentum. Rockets. Center of Mass. Angular
Momentum for Single and Several Particles.
 Chapter 4. Energy. Kinetic Energy and Work. Potential Energy and Conservative Forces. Force as a Gradient of
Potential Energy. Time-Dependent Potential Energy. Energy for Linear and Curvilinear One-Dimensional
Systems. Central Forces. The Energy of Multiparticle system.
 Chapter 5. Oscillations. Hooke’s Law. Simple Harmonic Motion. Two-Dimensional Oscillators. Damped
Oscillations. Resonance. Fourier Series Solution for the Driven Oscillator.
 Chapter 6. Calculus of Variations. The Euler-Lagrange Equation.
 Chapter 7. Lagrange’s Equations. Constrained Systems. Generalized Momenta. More about Conservation Laws.
 Chapter 8. Two-Body Central-Force Problems. CM and Relative Coordinates; Reduced Mass. The Equation of
Motion. The Equivalent One-Dimensional Problem. The Equation of the Orbit. The Kepler Orbits.
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make
arrangements to meet with me at the beginning of the term. Please request that a Disability Resources staff send a
SAAR form verifying your disability and specifying the accommodation you will need.