PH10004: Classical mechanics
[Page last updated: 21 April 2022]
| Academic Year: | 2022/3 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Physics |
| Credits: | 3 [equivalent to 6 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 60 |
| Level: | Certificate (FHEQ level 4) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary: | EX 100% |
| Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: |
While taking this module you must take PH10007
You must have A-level Physics or Chemistry (or equivalent) and A-level Mathematics (or equivalent) to take this unit. |
| Learning Outcomes: | After taking this unit the student should be able to:
* describe motion of particles and determine the relationship between forces and acceleration using vector notations, and in Cartesian and Polar coordinates; * use the concepts of kinetic and potential energy, and mechanical work to solve a range of physical problems; * use conservation of energy to qualitatively describe motion of particles in external potentials, determine positions of equilibrium and regimes of bound and free motion; * use conservation laws of linear and angular momentum to describe collisions of particles and rigid bodies; * describe collisions in the centre of mass frame; * use the concepts of angular momentum, torque and moment of inertia to describe rotations of rigid bodies; * determine moments of inertia of rigid bodies using the table for basic shapes, additive property, and parallel axis theorem. |
| Aims: | The aims of this unit are to present students with a clear guide to the laws of classical mechanics, and to strengthen their understanding of the universality of concepts from classical mechanics (from fundamental particles to billiard balls and planets) by means of practical problems. |
| Skills: | Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A. |
| Content: | Kinematics and Newton's laws of motion (5 hours, including problems classes): Vector notations, velocity and acceleration; Galilean invariance, inertial frames and inertial forces; fundamental and non-fundamental (phenomenological) forces in common physical problems; motion of particles in a plane: Cartesian and Polar coordinate systems; non-uniform circular and spiral motions, Coriolis acceleration.
Conservation laws in mechanics (5 hours, including problems classes): mechanical work and energy; potential energy, free and bound motions, turning points, equilibrium positions as extrema of potential energy; conservative and non-conservative forces; momentum and impulse; conservation of momentum; centre of mass; the two-body problem; collisions in the centre of mass frame. Dynamics of rigid bodies (5 hours, including problems classes): angular momentum of a point particle; spin and orbital angular momentum of a rigid body; conservation of angular momentum; torques, dynamics of fixed axis of rotation; kinetic energy of a rotating body; moments of inertia, parallel axis theorem; motions involving translation and rotation, instantaneous rotations. |
| Programme availability: |
PH10004 is Compulsory on the following programmes:Department of Physics
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Notes:
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