Course Information
Lectures at MWF 10:30-11:20 on zoom
| Dr. Andrew Frey a dot frey at uwinnipeg dot ca |
Marker: TBA For questions about marking only |
| Office Hours by appointment |
This is the course homepage for PHYS-3202, Intermediate Mechanics.
I welcome feedback and comments on the course. If you're more comfortable commenting anonymously, upload a text file marked as comments to the homework upload link below.
Texts
- Required: Mechanics and
Relativity by Idema, Sept 2019 ed
- Required: Variational Principles in Classical Mechanics by Cline, 2nd ed
- These texts are both available through the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. You may print them if you wish; see here for a permission form to take to university printing services.
In addition, some extra reading (from other texts, journal articles, etc) may be assigned.
Important Dates
- First Lecture: Sept 9, 2020
- Fall Reading Week: Oct 11-17, 2020 (no class)
- Term Test: take home 10:30AM 20 Oct to 10:30AM 21 Oct, In-Class 21 Oct
- Remembrance Day Holiday: Nov 11, 2020 (no class)
- Voluntary Withdrawal Date: Nov 17, 2020
- Last Regular Lecture: Dec 7, 2020
- Remembrance Day Make-Up Lecture: Dec 8, 2020 (usual time)
- Course Project Due: Dec 10, 2020 (you can request extension)
- Review Session: Dec 9, 2020 at 7PM
- Final Exam: take home noon 10 Dec to noon 11 Dec, 2020
Reading Schedule
Reading assignments will be posted on the course web page. You are responsible for keeping up with the reading; material covered in the reading will not necessarily be discussed in the class lectures but may be relevant to assignments. If you click the topic title, you'll get a scanned copy of my lecture notes.
Books are identified by the authors' last initial. Italicized reading is optional.
| Dates | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 11-14 Sept | Newton's Laws Review | I§1.1-2,2.1; C§1.1-4,2.2 |
| 14-23 Sept | Linear Motion | I§2.2-5;3.1-2;4.4-7;C§3.5-6 |
| 25 Sept - 2 Oct | 3D Motion: Vector Calculus Review | C§B.1-4;C.1-2;G.1-3;H.1-3 |
| 2-9 Oct | 3D Motion: General Considerations | I§3.3-4;5.1-3;6.1; C§2.9.2;2.12.4-5;3.4.1 |
| 19 Oct | Review Session | |
| 21 Oct | Term Test TAKE-HOME TEST, In-Class Cover Sheet | |
| 23-30 Oct | 3D Motion: Inverse Square Law | I6.3-4; C11.8 through 11.8.3 (check notation) |
| 2-6 Nov | 3D Motion: Scattering & Cross Sections | C§11.12 |
| 6-16 Nov | Non-Inertial Frames: Fictitious Forces | I§7.2; C§12.1-5,8 |
| 16-23 Nov | Non-Inertial Frames: Effects on Earth | C§12.10,11,13 |
| 23-25 Nov | Rigid Body Rotation: Matrices & Tensors | C§A.1,2,4 |
| 25 Nov - 2 Dec | Rigid Body Rotation: Moments of Inertia | I§4.1,5.4,7.3.1;C§13.3-12 |
| 2-8 Dec | Rigid Body Rotation: Cases of Rotational Motion | I§5.8-9,7.3.2;C§13.17,13.20.1, 13.22,§13.18 example 8 only |
| 10-11 Dec | Final Exam TAKE-HOME EXAM |
Assignments
Policies
Please see the course outline for the official statement of homework policies. The following are guidelines:
- Assignments will only be posted on this web page; you must let me know if you need alternate delivery.
- Assignments will be posted Wednesday and are typically due the next Wednesday. Assignments are due by 10:59PM on the listed due date. Make sure to label your assignment with your name.
- Upload homeworks to this link.
- Assignments may be black-and-white scans to PDF, PDF prepared by LaTeX, or PDF or Word doc/docx prepared with a word processor using an equation editor.
- Include your name on your assignment. Name your files with first initial, last name, and assignment number. If you need multiple files, label them in order with lower case letters. Example: AFrey_hw1.pdf or AFrey_hw1a.pdf, AFrey_hw1b.pdf, etc.
- Collaboration is allowed, but you must write up your own solutions independently (in your own words).
- Late assignments will only be accepted with prior permission from the instructor.
- Assignments that are not neatly organized and written will receive zero credit (one warning allowed). Please see the course outline.
- If you find a mistake in grading, please talk to Dr Frey.
- Instructions for Maple and Mathematica
Homework Sets
Solutions removed for security reasons.
- Assignment 1 due 16 Sept,
- Assignment 2 due 23 Sept,
- Assignment 3 due 30 Sept,
- Assignment 4 due 7 Oct,
- Assignment 5 (Maple Sample, Mathematica Sample) due 28 Oct,
- Assignment 6 due 4 Nov,
- Assignment 7 due 12 Nov (note due date!),
- Assignment 8 due 18 Nov,
- Assignment 9 due 25 Nov,
- Assignment 10 due 7 Dec (note due date!),
- Assignment 11 NOT TO BE HANDED IN,
Course Project
Instructions, including the detailed marking scheme and all deadlines are given here: Project Instructions. In short, you must write a 5-page paper including results of analytical and numerical calculations analyzing a scene in popular culture that depicts some aspect of classical mechanics that we are studying. You may and are encouraged to work in groups.
- Project topics must be approved by Dr Frey by Nov 17
- Project papers are due as hardcopy or PDF by 10:59PM on Dec 10, but I am happy to consider extension requests.
- Papers must be prepared using the LaTeX or MS Word template provided here: LaTeX template, MS Word template
- Possible topics are listed in the instructions.
Last updated: 9:53 on 2 Sept 2021