The course teaches the fundamentals of particle motion starting with the equations that describe the motion of an object.
Mechanics is important for understanding nature, and is essential for the study of science, engineering, life sciences, and other specialized courses. Students will learn the physical laws of motion and their mathematical description. This will allow them to understand particle mechanics as well as find solutions to most general problems in mechanics.
By completing this course, students will be able to:
1) Correctly understand the concepts of velocity, acceleration, force, momentum, angular momentum, torque, work, energy, etc., and mathematically describe them.
2) Correctly understand the laws of motion; the laws of conservation of momentum, angular momentum, and energy that are derived from the laws of motion; and solve actual physical problems by applying these laws.
3) Find mathematical solutions to problems in mechanics, expressed by the appropriate equations, and explain the physical meaning of said solutions.
position, velocity, acceleration, momentum, force, laws of motion, law of conservation of momentum, free fall, simple harmonic motion, parabolic motion, work, kinetic energy, potential energy, law of conservation of energy, central force, angular momentum, torque, law of conservation of angular momentum, universal gravitation, Kepler’s laws
✔ Specialist skills | Intercultural skills | Communication skills | Critical thinking skills | ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills |
Two-thirds of each class is devoted to fundamentals and the rest to advanced content or application. To allow students to get a good grasp of the course contents and practice problem solving skills, problems related to the contents of this course are provided in Exercises in Physics I.
Course schedule | Required learning | |
---|---|---|
Class 1 | Difference from physics learnt in high school. | Recognize the difference from high school physics. |
Class 2 | Differential equation | Learn three patterns of solving differential equations. |
Class 3 | Momentum and energy conservations | Derive momentum conservation law and energy conservation law from Newton's law. |
Class 4 | Mass sliding down a rough slope | Learn how to describe the motion of a mass. |
Class 5 | Pendulum with a friction | Make a clear image of energy loss. |
Class 6 | Potential energy | Make a clear image of potential energy. |
Class 7 | Potential energy of a spherical shell | Calculate a potential energy of a sphere and a spherical shell. |
Mechanics, M.Toda, Iwanami Publishing Company
Not in particular
final exam
No prerequisites.