Classical mechanics

Course description

Klasična mehanika is a required course for second-year undergraduates in the FMF physics program. These notes are from the summer semester of the 2019-20 academic year, when the course was taught by professor Anton Ramšak (lecture); and dr. Jernej Mravlje and mag. fiz. Lara Ulčakar. The course covers Lagrangian mechanics at an upper-undergraduate level; specific material includes

  • review of Newtonian dynamics: orthogonal curvilinear coordinates; non-inertial coordinate systems
  • the Lagrange equations and the principle of least action
  • the Lagrange equations and D’Alembert’s principle
  • Noether’s theorem
  • small oscillations
  • the central force problem
  • the kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies
  • introduction to Hamiltonian mechanics: Hamilton’s equations, Poisson brackets