Physics 325
Classical Mechanics I

Prof. Benjamin Hooberman

News
& Info 		Discussion Homework Lecture notes Gradebook

Announcements

End of course announcements
  • The last day of class is Thursday Dec 7.
  • The final exam is Tuesday Dec 19 8-11 AM in 151 Loomis. If you have an irreconcilable conflict at that time, email Prof. Hooberman as soon as possible!
  • There is one remaining OPTIONAL (for extra credit) homeworks assignment due Friday Dec 8, see HW assignments.
  • Normal office hours will be held this week (Thurs Dec 7 and Fri Dec 8)
  • Special office hours will be held next week (Thurs Dec 14 11 AM - 2 PM and Fri Dec 15 1 PM - 4 PM): ROOM TO BE ANNOUNCED

Exams and solutions

General Information

Course Description
This course constitutes a core requirement for Physics majors or minors at the University of Illinois, and covers major topics from the field of classical mechanics. Topics covered include the kinematics and dynamics of classical systems, including a review of Newtonian kinematics and dynamics; three dimensional motion, variable mass, and conservation laws; damped and periodically driven oscillations; gravitational potential of extended objects and motion in rotating frames of reference; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics.


Instructors

TAs

Graders
For specific questions about homework grading, please simply email the entire grader email list, and the appropriate grader will respond.

Lecture
Loomis 151,   Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:00 - 1:20 pm

Discussions
Loomis 64,   Monday evenings, one hour in the period 3:00-9:00pm. The exact time of your discussion will depend on the particular section for which you registered, see details here.

Office hours Beginning Thurs Aug 31
271 Loomis,   Thurs 2-3 PM   Wang
271 Loomis,   Thurs 3-4 PM   Hooberman
271 Loomis,   Thurs 4-5 PM   Langley
464 Loomis,   Fri 2-3 PM   Kochkov
464 Loomis,   Fri 3-4 PM   Krongchon
464 Loomis,   Fri 4-5 PM   Zhao

Course Text Books
  • "Classical Mechanics" by John R. Taylor
  • "Introduction to Classical Mechanics" by David Morin
    which is available online @ UIUC Library; off-campus access needs VPN in Tunnel All mode

    • Syllabus
    See here.

     

    Policies

    Course Grade Breakdown
    Homework will be 25% of the total grade, discussion attendance 5%, and exams will count for 70%. Two mid-term exams are worth 15% each, and the final exam is 40%.


    Homework due dates and time
    Homework assignments are due at 6 PM on the following Monday.


    General Policy Regarding Grading
    Homework is considered essential to learning course material, and should be treated as training for future work rather than as a test of what you already know. You should start working on an assignment early, close to when it is posted on Friday. We encourage students to work together, and get help from the professor or TAs when they encounter difficulties. We will happily explain difficult concepts during office hours and check your work for errors. For this reason, scores on homework are typically high (~95%). Don't make the mistake of starting your homework the day before it is due!

    Partial credit will be given on homework and exams if and only if the work is coherent. A random scattering of thoughts will not be awarded points. Simple numerical errors will not be strongly punished, however students are expected to be careful about their work and will lose points for errors which give incorrect physical results. The steps to receiving partial credit are: (i) write your solution neatly and coherently using equations and words to describe what you are doing (ii) checking your answer for consistency e.g. are units correct, does the solution behave correctly in known limits? Write as though you are explaining the problem to somebody who doesn't already know the answer! Expect the exams to be challenging but to be curved accordingly.

    Useful references

    Formula Sheets
    1D Formulae
    3D Calculus
    Midterm #1
    Midterm #2
    Final

    Useful results from Phys 225 (Courtesy of Prof. Naomi Makins)
    6 Basic Pieces
    The meaning of Grad, Div and Curl
    Strategy for integration in three dimensions