Welcome to Physics 313, Classical Mechanics!

On this page, you can find:

  • the syllabus
  • links to all of our weekly course material, in the table below
  • information on useful simulations

office hours:

  • Monday 3:30-4:30pm SENG 306
  • Wednesday 11am-12pm SENG 208b
  • Friday 11am-12pm and 2-3pm SENG 208b

Key due dates:

  • Attend each class to complete the in-class activity for credit.
  • Homework is due Friday at the beginning of class each week.
  • Midterm exams on Friday 10/16 and Friday 11/18.
  • Final exam Wednesday 12/16 8am-11am SENG 306.

Materials

Date Topic Lecture Taylor Homework
9/2/26 Intro L1 1,2  
9/4/26 Beyond Newton’s Laws L2 4 HW0, due 9/11. soln
9/9/26 Calculus of variations L3 6.1-6.2 –
9/11/26 Calculus of variations L4 6.3-6.5 HW1, due 9/18. soln
9/14/26 Lagrangian mechanics L5 6.4-6.5, 7.1 –
9/16/26 Lagrangian mechanics L6 7.1-7.2 –
9/18/26 Lagrangian mechanics L7 7.2-7.3 HW2, due 9/28. soln
9/21/26 Lagrangian mechanics tutorial, soln 7.5 –
9/23/26 Lagrangian mechanics L8 7.5 –
9/25/26 Equilibrium Points L9 ex 7.6 HW3, due 10/2. soln
9/28/26 Central Force Problems L10 8.1-8.3 –
9/30/26 Central Force Problems out sick   –
10/2/26 Central Force Problems L11 8.4-8.7 HW4, due 10/9. soln
10/5/26 Central Force Problems L12 8.4-8.7  
10/7/26 Central Force Problems tutorial, soln    
10/9/26 Central Force Problems tutorial, cont.   no homework! study for the exam
10/13/26 Accelerated reference frames L13 9.1-2 Practice Exam, soln
10/14/26 Accelerated reference frames L14 9.3-5  
10/16/26   Midterm 1, soln   HW5, due 10/23. soln
10/19/26 Accelerated reference frames L15 9.6  
10/21/26 Accelerated reference frames tutorial 9.7  
10/23/26 Accelerated reference frames L16 9.8-9 HW6, due 10/30. soln
10/26/26 Rigid Rotors L17 10.1-3  
10/30/26 Rigid Rotors L18 10.3-4 HW7, due 11/6. soln
11/2/26 Rigid Rotors L19 10.5  
11/4/26 Rigid Rotors L20 10.7-8  
11/6/26 Rigid Rotors L21 10.8 HW8, due 11/13.
11/9/26 Rigid Rotors L22