2019 Fundamentals of Mechanics 1 F

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Academic unit or major
Basic science and technology courses
Instructor(s)
Matsushita Michio 
Class Format
Lecture     
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Tue3-4(W331)  
Group
F
Course number
LAS.P101
Credits
1
Academic year
2019
Offered quarter
1Q
Syllabus updated
2019/11/11
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
Japanese
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Course description and aims

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.

Student learning outcomes

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.

Keywords

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

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills Intercultural skills Communication skills Critical thinking skills Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

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

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 Description of motion (coordinate system, velocity and acceleration, unit and dimension) Explain position, velocity and acceleration as well as their relationship.
Class 2 Newton's three laws of motion (law of inertia, equation of motion, law of action and reaction, motion under uniform gravity) Explain Newton's three laws of motion and solve motion of a point mass under uniform gravity.
Class 3 Viscous force and solution of ordinary differential equations Explain how to solve linear ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients generally.
Class 4 Harmonic oscillator (simple, damped and driven oscillation) Derive simple oscillation, damped oscillation and driven oscillation of a harmonic oscillator.
Class 5 Constrained motion (normal force, tension, frictional force, simple pendulum) Explain normal force, tension and frictional force, and solve motion of a simple pendulum.
Class 6 Work and energy (kinetic energy, conservative force and potential energy, law of conservation of energy) Explain the concepts of work, kinetic energy and potential energy, as well as the law of conservation of energy.
Class 7 Planetary motion 1 (Kepler's laws, law of universal gravitation, angular momentum) Explain the relationship between central force and conservation of angular momentum, and derive Kepler's second law.

Textbook(s)

Lecture notes will be distributed.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

For advanced study,
L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, "Mechanics" 3rd ed.
(Course of Theoretical Physics vol. 1) Elsevier (1976).

Assessment criteria and methods

Learning achievement is evaluated by a final exam.

Related courses

  • LAS.P105 : Exercises in Physics I

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

No prerequisites.

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