Instructor:
Jack Bass
e-mail: Bass@pa.msu.edu
Office: Room 7 PA
Tel: 432-1146
Office Hours: Tentatively Wed. 4:10 pm, Thur.
1:50pm; by appointment; and ‘catch on the fly’.
Class Times:
MWF 3:00pm.
Rm 317 PA.
Text:
Marion and Thornton
Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
4th Ed..
Material to be covered:
Portions of Chs. 6,7,10,11,12, and 13 (Not all
in this order!).
Ch. 6. Brief Overview of Calculus
of Variations.
Ch. 7. Hamilton’s Principle - Lagrangian
and Hamiltonian Dynamics.
Ch. 10. Motion in a Non-Inertial Reference Frame.
Ch. 11. Dynamics of Rigid Bodies.
Ch. 12. Coupled Oscillations
Ch. 13. Continuous Systems: Waves.
Note:
Several concepts and techniques covered at this
level of mechanics are useful in other parts of physics: e.g. minimization
principles in various fields; the Hamiltonian and conjugate variables in
quantum mechanics; coupled oscillations and normal modes in solids.
Grade:
The following absolute scale will guarantee the
grade listed (except see just below)
Two numbers will be calculated, with the larger
of the two determining the grade.
#1: Homework Score (out of 33) + Midterm scores
(out of 34) + Final Exam Score (out of 33)
#2: 3/2 x (Midterm scores + Final Exam Score).
Except, that in case #1, a 2.0 will also require
27 or higher on the exams alone, and 2.5 or higher will require 34 or higher
on the exams.
If the average on the final exam comes out to be less than 20/33, the instructor may, if he deems it desirable, multiply each final exam score by the ratio (20/actual avg.) to bring the average up to 20/33, and then use this multiplied number in each of the above two calculations. However, no student may receive more than 33 points for the Final Exam.
Homework:
Homework will be assigned on Friday or Monday
and will always be due the following Friday at the start of class.
At the end of the semester, the maximum possible Homework total will be
renormalized to 33 points (probably out of about 240 actual points).
HOMEWORK RULES.
Learning physics is a ‘contact activity’--- you
learn it by applying it. It is best to work a homework problem by
yourself if you can. But there is evidence that it is better for
students to discuss problems with each other than to fail to complete the
problems. For this reason,
YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO DISCUSS HOMEWORK
ASSIGNMENTS AMONG YOURSELVES, AND WITH ME, BUT YOU MUST WRITE UP YOUR HOMEWORK
YOURSELF--NO COPYING. Late homework will be accepted until solution
information is provided, with increasing penalty the later the date.
