Physics 5201
Theoretical Mechanics
Susanne Yelin
Fall Semester, 2010


Syllabus

• Contact information

  Professor:	Susanne Yelin	Office hours:	Thursday, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
  Office:	P-111		or by appointment
  Phone:	(860) 486-4899
  email:	susanne.yelin@uconn.edu

• Text book: Classical Mechanics, 3rd ed., Goldstein, Poole & Safko, Addison-Wesley, San Diego (CA), 2002. (ISBN 0-201-65702-3). See the following link for updates on the book.
  In addition to (but not replacing) the textbook, I will make my own (handwritten) lecture notes available.
• Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30 am – 11:45 pm, room P-121.
• Assessment: There will be bi-weekly written homework assignments, one written midterm exam, and one final exam. The following weights are used in calculating the final grade in the course.

  Homework	30%
  Midterm	25%
  Final	40%
  Class participation	5%

  Please do note that "class participation" does mean "active participation," not just sitting in.
• Continuous Feedback: On this link you can give me (anonymous) feedback. I welcome feedback, positive as well as negative, especially before the semester is over, and I can act on it!
• Academic misconduct: There is a zero-tolerance policy for any form of academic misconduct. An explanation of academic misconduct can be found at http://www.dosa.uconn.edu. See Section VI of The Student Conduct Code by clicking on Judicial Affairs, then Student Code, then Part VI: Academic Integrity in Undergraduate Education and Research. Also see the link to Judicial Process FAQ which is available on the Judicial Affairs link.

• Course Outline:

  1-	Survey of classical mechanics
  2-	Variational Principles and Lagrange's Equation
  3-	Central Forces
  4-	Rigid Body Motion
  5-	Oscillations
  (6-	Special Relativity)
  7-	Hamilton Equations
  8-	Canonical Transformations
  9-	Hamilton-Jacobi Theory
  (10-	Chaos)
  (11-	Continuous Systems)
  (12-	Fluid Mechanics)

The topics in parentheses will be taught only if time and interest exist.