PHYSICS  311  HOME  PAGE

   Instructor:

Lynn Knutson
Office:  1516 Sterling Hall
Phone:  262-3096
email:  knutson@silphium.physics.wisc.edu
Office Hours:  (in 1516 Sterling)
        Monday -- 2:30 pm
        Tuesday -- 9:55 am
        Tuesday -- 1:00 pm
        Friday -- 2:00 pm

Final Exam:     Review Notes
 
• Thursday May 13 -- 12:25 -- 3335 Sterling
• Bring a 5x7 card (both sides) or equivalent with formulas and information
• You can also bring your cards from the first two exams

 
Exam 2:     Review Notes
                    Exam Solutions
 
• Wednesday April 21 during the normal class period.
• The exam will cover Chapters 5-9.
• You may bring a 5x7 card (both sides) with formulas and other information.


Exam 1:     Review Notes
                    Exam Solutions

• Friday March 5 during the normal class period.
• The exam will cover Chapters 1-4.
• You may bring a 5x7 card (both sides) with formulas and other information.

   Text Book:

Classical Mechanics (Pre-Publication Edition) by John Taylor

  Text webpage

  Solutions to odd numbered problems

  Integral Tables
 

Other useful texts:
Classical Mechanics - A Modern Perspective -- V.D. Barger and M.G. Olsson
Classical Dynamics -- S.T. Thornton and J.B. Marion
Analytical Mechanics -- G.R. Fowles and G.L. Cassiday

 Homework Solutions

   Course Information:

GENERAL INFO:  Physics 311 is a course in Classical Mechanics designed for students who have completed the one of the introductory physics sequences (207-208, 247-248-249 or 201-202).  The outline for the course is to cover material in the order presented in the textbook. hopefully reaching Chapter 12 by the end of the semester.  There is no actual syllabus at this time, but I will try to keep you up to date on the material to be covered each week as we go along.  Here are some of the topics we will be covering:

Newton's laws and momentum conservation
Vectors and coordinate frames
Drag forces
Motion of a charge in a magnetic field
Rockets and momentum conservation
Angular momentum
Work and kinetic energy
Potential energy and conservative forces
Central forces and spherical coordinates
Harmonic motion
Damped oscillators and resonances
Minimization principles - calculus of variations
Lagranges equations
The orbit equation and Kepler's Laws
Non-intertial frames
Rigid body rotations - Euler's Equations
Coupled oscillators and normal modes
Chaos

HOMEWORK:  Homework assignments will normally be given each Wednesday, and homework papers will be collected in class the following Wednesday.  Students are permitted to work together on homework assignments with the goal of learning from each other.  However, don't fall into the trap of always relying on someone else to help you with the homework.  Everyone also needs to understand that the homework paper you hand in must represent your own work.  Copying another student's solution is not permitted.

EXAMS:  We will have two regular hour exams during the semester.  The exams will be held during the normal class period on dates to be announced.

GRADING:  The final course grade will be based on the total number of points accumulated during the semester with 100 points for each of the two midterm exams, 150 points for the final, and 100 points for homework.

   Homework Assignments:
 

Assignment	Problems	Due Date
1	Chapter 1:  4, 5, 12, 15, 22, 36, 46	Jan 28
2	Chapter 2: 8, 10, 16, 24, 37, 52	Feb 4
3	Chapter 3: 4, 8, 12, 17, 22, 29, 33	Feb 11
4	P1, P2, Chapter 4: 2, 7, 8, 13, 22	Feb 18
5	Chapter 4: 28, 30, 35, 36, 41, 53 -- plus 24 for honors	Feb 25
6	Chapter 5: 5, 8, 10, 13, 18, 26, 42, P3	March 10
7	Chapter 6: 5, 8, 13  Chapter 7: 4, 10, 14, 19	March 24
8	Chapter 7: 20, 22, 24, 32, 37, 49 -- plus 38 for honors	March 31
9	Chapter 8: 2, 5, 8, 9, 15, 16, P4	April 7
10	Chapter 9: 2,3,9,12,16,18	April 14
11	Chapter 10: 9, 16, 18, 23, 24	April 28
12	Chapter 11: 4, 7, 10, 12, 18	May 5
13	Read Chapter 12

  L Knutson Home Page