Instructor - Josh Erlich
Small Hall, Room 332B
Office Phone: 757-221-3763
Email: erlich@physics.wm.edu
Text:  Classical Mechanics (third edition) by H. Goldstein, C. Poole, and J. Safko. Errata
Other references: 
Grading and exams:
Lecture Notes 
Lecture Notes 1 - Basic principles of mechanics
Lecture Notes 2 - Systems with constraints, D'Alembert's principle, Lagrange's equations
Lecture Notes 3 - More about Lagrange's equations and examples
Lecture Notes 4 - Hamilton's principle, Holonomic constraints with Lagrange multipliers
Lecture Notes 5 - Noether's Theorem: Symmetries and Conservation Laws
Lecture Notes 6 - More examples of uses of variational principles
Lecture Notes 7 - The central force problem, classification of trajectories, black hole shadows
Lecture Notes 8 - The Kepler problem, conditions for closed orbits, Bertrand's theorem
Lecture Notes 9 - Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector, Lagrange points, Scattering from a central force
Lecture Notes 10 - Review
Lecture Notes 11 - Kinematics of rigid body motion
Lecture Notes 12 - Euler angles, Euler's theorem
Lecture Notes 13 - Infinitesimal rotations, rate of change of vectors in space and body frames
Lecture Notes 14 - Coriolis effect, fictitious forces
Lecture Notes 15 - Angular momentum, moment of inertia tensor, principal axes
Lecture Notes 16 - Euler's equations, torque-free rigid body motion
Lecture Notes 17 - The spinning top
Lecture Notes 18 - Review
Lecture Notes 19 - Oscillations
Lecture Notes 20 - Forced and damped oscillations
Lecture Notes 21 - Hamilton's equations of motion
Lecture Notes 22 - Special Relativity: Lorentz transformations, Thomas precession
Supplement -
Notes on tensors from PHYS 786
Lecture Notes 23 - Relativistic kinematics, thresholds for particle production
Lecture Notes 24 - More relativistic reactions, Lagrangian formalism for relativistic mechanics
Supplement - Motion in curved spacetime
Homework
Homework 1, due Monday, September 20. Solutions
Homework 2, due Monday, September 27.
Solutions
Homework 3, due Monday, October 4.
Solutions
Homework 4, due Wednesday,October 20, Solutions
Homework 5, due Monday, November 1, Solutions
Homework 6, due Monday, November 8, Solutions
Homework 7, due Monday, November 22, Solutions
Homework 8, due Wednesday, December 8,
Solutions