Course Information
Lectures at MWF 11:30-12:20 in room 2L14
Dr. Andrew Frey2L26
a dot frey at uwinnipeg dot ca
204-786-9215
Office Hours by appointment on zoom
Zoom coordinates for office hours
or if you must attend class remotely
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.
COVID-19 Info
An individual in this class has a medical accommodation requiring that everybody in the class be masked. If you are not prepared to wear a mask in class you should withdraw from this course and select a different course.
If you feel ill or have new or worsening symptoms of COVID-19, please do not come to class (or the university at all)! If you let me know about an absence in advance, I will attempt to set up zoom in the class room for you to attend remotely. Additionally, if I need to stay home due to illness but am well enough to teach, I will teach remotely via zoom and let you know in advance via UWinnipeg email.
Texts
- Required: Lectures on Dynamics and Relativity by David Tong, March 2013
- Required: Mechanics and
Relativity by Idema, Sept 2019 ed
- Supplemental: Variational Principles in Classical Mechanics by Cline, 2nd ed
- Supplemental: Lectures on Classical Dynamics by David Tong, Jan 2015.
- These texts are all free to download. The texts by Tong are under copyright, so you may not distribute them. The texts by Idema and Cline 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 6, 2023
- First Miderm Test: Oct 4, 2023
- Fall Reading Week: Oct 8-14, 2023 (no class)
- Second Miderm Test: Nov 13, 2023
- Voluntary Withdrawal Date: Nov 13, 2023
- Long lectures for Makeup: Nov 29 and Dec 1, 2023
- Last Regular Lecture: Dec 4, 2023
- Review Session: 2PM Dec 13, 2023, Room 2L14
- Final Exam: 1:30-4:30PM Dec 14, 2023, Room 2L14
Syllabus
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 ("Classical Dynamics" by Tong is labeled as "T2"). Italicized reading is optional.
| Dates | Topic | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 6-15 Sept | Newtonian Mechanics | T §1, 2.1(intro); I §2.1, 3.1-2, 3.3(intro), 3.4, 5.1-2, A.1 |
| 18 Sept - 18 Oct | Sample Forces and Systems | T §2.1,3,5; I §2.2-6, 8.1-3 |
| 4 Oct | 1st Midterm Test Solution | |
| 18 Oct - 1 Nov | Central Forces and Orbits | T §2.2,4.1-3; I §5.3,5.6,6.3-4,A.2 |
| 1-17 Nov | Rotation, Part I | T §2.3.1,5.1.1,5.4; I §5.4,5,7-9 |
| 13 Nov | 2nd Midterm Test Solution | |
| 20-29 Nov | Accelerating Reference Frames | T §6 I §7.2 |
| 29 Nov - 4 Dec | Rotation, Part II | I §7.3; T2 §3.2-6; suggested: C §13.4-17 |
| 14 Dec | Final Exam Solutions |
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 typically be posted Wednesday. Assignments are due by 10:59PM on the listed due date (normally the next Wednesday). Make sure to label your assignment with your name.
- Upload homeworks to this link.
- Assignments must be submitted as PDF files. These may be black-and-white scans or photographs of hardcopies (all converted to PDF), PDF prepared by LaTeX, or PDF 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).
- Use of AI text-generating tools is prohibited for all assignments.
- 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.
Homework Sets
- Assignment 1 due 20 Sept, Solution
- Assignment 2 due 27 Sept, Solution
- Assignment 3 due Fri 6 Oct, Solution
- Assignment 4 due 18 Oct, Solution
- Assignment 5 due 25 Oct, Solution
- Assignment 6 due 1 Nov, Solution
- Assignment 7 due 8 Nov, Solution
- Assignment 8 due 17 Nov, Solution
- Assignment 9 due 22 Nov, Solution
- Assignment 10 due 29 Nov, Solution
- Assignment 11 due 6 Dec, Solution
- Assignment 12 NOT DUE, Solution
Last updated: 22:55 on 20 Dec 2023