PHYSICAL MECHANICS II
(Course scheduled to be offered during the 2005 Spring semester
- Prerequisite: PHYS-410 and more)
PHYSICAL MECHANICS II
(Course scheduled to be offered during the 2005 Spring semester
- Prerequisite: PHYS-410 and more)
William Rowan Hamilton (Dublin 1805-1865)
(check out Professor Giuliani's new book: TheBook ; BYtheBook at amazon , Cambridge . )
Office: PHYS 228 ; Office hours: Monday 2:00pm-3:30pm
The final has been graded. The Spring 2005 grades have been assessed. Feel free to stop by my office to review your exam. Have a great Summer break.
This is a course in Analytical Mechanics intended for Purdue Physics undergraduate students who are in the Honors program. Admission to the course is by special permission . The material covered is at a somewhat more advanced level than the typical undergraduate course on the subject. Topics will range from aspects and applications of hamiltonian dynamics, to canonical transformations, finally to some concepts of modern non-linear dynamics and chaotic motion. A good working knowledge of lagrangian and hamiltonian dynamics is necessary. Although a certain knowledge of mathematical methods for Physics will certainly turn out useful, the course is mostly self-contained.
The course will utilize as text the following books:
(students can also study on older editions, problems will be assigned
from the 5th edition however)
(531.3015 M339c 1995 and newer)
Other useful books are the following:
NOTICE: These texts are on reserve, i.e. one copy will be available all Semester long for consultation at the Physics Library desk.
Since the material will be often treated in an independent way, class attendance will be crucial. The students are in any case urged to pay a long visit to the Purdue Physics Library (click here for catalog ) which has a number of other good texts on the subject.
The current syllabus is provided here: syllabus .
The actual syllabus will be determined by the performance of the class.
The final grade will be determined from the score earned in two exams (a midterm and a final ) and in the homework . The midterm exam and the homework will respectively account for 35 % and 20 % of the total score. The final examination will account for the remaining 45 %. The instructor does reserve the right to assess an incomplete grade (I) if there is evidence that important parts of the material have not been sufficiently absorbed.
The homework is an integral part of the course. In the case of a passing grade, failure to enter two or more homework sets will automatically lead to a lower letter grade than actually scored according to the above accounting. Homework sets in which a frivolous score is earned will be considered as not entered. Homework sets will be entered at the beginning of class on the due day. The work must be neatly written on standard notebook paper and easily readable. The cover page for each set will be provided by the instructor. Unless explicitly authorized by the instructor, no homework set is to be entered with the grader or sent by mail of any kind. The homework will be graded for the Spring of 2005 by Stefano Chesi . Any problems with the grading of the homework will be dealt directly with the grader. The instructor will intervene only after any problems have been discussed between the grader and the student. The grader's office is located in room Room 105 in the Physics Building. in the Physics Building. The phone number is 49-61775. Grader's office hours: Wednesday 2:30pm-3:30pm.
The grader can be contacted via email here:
email the grader.
Attendance will be required as from revised Part 2, Section VI
of University Regulations (in short: be there!).
If you cannot attend a class for a justifiable reason, please
alert the instructor of the problem before the class is in session.
In all cases PLEASE do get in touch with the instructor if (possibly BEFORE!) any problem should arise.
