Prerequisites:

Ph 2 ab or Ph 12 abc, Ma 2.

Lectures:

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30-11:55, 103 Downs.
Any changes will be announced well in advance. Please arrive on time!

Instructor: Prof. Alan J. Weinstein

Office: 354A West Bridge; Mail Code: 100-36; Phone: x2166; E-mail: ajw AT caltech.edu

Teaching assistants:

• Yanlong Shi, yshi3 AT caltech.edu, Assignments: TBD.
• Chien-Chang "Kyle" Chen, cchen AT caltech.edu, will grade Assignments: TBD.
• Ka Yue "Alvin" Li, kli7 AT caltech.edu, will grade Assignments: TBD.
• Office hours: TBD, in West Bridge B157.

Textbook for Phys 106a:

Analytical Mechanics by L.N. Hand and J.D. Finch, Cambridge University Press (1998) (on amazon).

Much of the structure, pacing, notation, etc. is taken from this text. It is far from perfect: it doesn't have a review of elementary Newtonian mechanics; it has typos; many people think the explanations are often unclear. Looking at other texts can always help.

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Recommended texts: On reserve at Fairchild Library. Use these texts for alternate explanations or for additional problems or examples.

• Classical Mechanics by Goldstein, Poole, and Safko (3rd edition): This is a classic textbook (I was taught the subject using an earlier edition, back in the 70s).
• Classical Mechanics by John Taylor: a nice book, with more review of the basics than Hand and Finch, but slightly less advanced than the level of the class; it will need supplementing with other reading in a few places.
• Mechanics by Landau and Lifshitz: classic but terse.
• Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems by Thornton and Marion: not as advanced as class text, and does not cover all the material, but good supplement if you find the jump from earlier classes to Ph106 too large.

Grading:

Approximately 50% problem sets, 15% midterm, 35% final exam.

Problem Sets:

• Problem sets and exams will be posted below on Friday of each week, due on the following Friday at 7pm in the Physics 106 IN box by the East Bridge mailboxes, and returned to the Physics 106 OUT box by the East Bridge mailboxes.
• To satisfy FERPA privacy rules, please make sure you have a FERPA waiver filed with PMA. Else, please choose a 6 or 7 digit code and email this to me and the TAs before the first assignment is due. You will use this, and not your name, to label the assignments you hand in.
• If your name, and not just your numerical code, appears on the assignment, you will have to pick it up directly from the TAs.
• Solution sets will be posted on the web.
• You are strongly encouraged to check your work when it is returned to you.
• Corrections to problems may be posted in the Announcements section above. If you are having trouble with a problem, be sure to check this page to see if a correction has been posted, and feel free to contact me if you think a problem has errors in it or seems overly difficult.
• Problem sets are essential for mastering the material in this class!

Exams:

Midterm and final exams during appropriate weeks of the term (5th and 10th). Both will be take-home and "limited" open-book (only the text and class notes allowed); see Honor Code section below. The final exam will be comprehensive.

Extensions:

• OFFICIAL policy: Work (the entire problem set) will be accepted up to one week late at 1/2 credit, no credit thereafter. Please put a note at the top of your problem set if it is late. You do not need to contact me or the TAs to turn in a problem set late for 1/2 credit. You must hand in the assignment in one piece (i.e.\ not a fraction on time for full credit, and the rest late for partial credit).
• Students may request extensions from the corresponding grader (see emails above) a day or more in advance. Extension requests are governed by the honor system.
• One extension (for up to one week) is allowed without question (your silver bullet). Please put a note at the top of your problem set that you are using your silver bullet.
• Extension requests should be accompanied by a good excuse (eg, physical or mental illness), and should be accompanied by a letter from a doctor or the dean.
• You must request the extension (by email to me and the TAs) before the problem set is due. (This is not necessary for your silver bullet).
• Please put late or extension problem sets in the corresponding grader's mail box, and email them.
• Late papers make far more work for the graders, who have their own set of pressures and deadlines as graduate students. There is no entitlement to extensions, so please do not be demanding.

Honor Code and Collaboration policy:

• Work is governed by the honor system.
• You may not use sources that contain the answer to a problem or to a very similar problem. If you have come across such material in the past, so much the better; but you shouldn't go back and reference that material when working on the problem set.
• In particular, do not use solution sets from previous years, or problem/solution books, at any time. Exams and their solutions from past years are not to be used in any fashion.
• Collaboration is permitted on problem sets, but then you should go off alone and write it up; the work you hand in must be your own, and honestly reflect your own understanding of the material.
• The midterm and final are not collaborative. For these you may consult your own notes (both in-class and any additional notes you take), the text by Hand and Finch, and handouts and solution sets on this website. You may not use other textbooks, the web (except for the current Ph106 website), or any other resources.
• Mathematica or similar software may be used in problem sets for getting past some mathematical chore (if it's to the point of obscuring the physics for you). However, it is usually much better to master the mathematical analysis yourself without help from such software. If you chose to use it anyway, make sure you simplify the result as much as possible, so that it is easy to see what the math is telling you.
• Mathematica or similar software may not be used in exams, unless explicit stated on the exam.
• Please attend class, and section meetings!
• Please ask questions of the TA's and the prof.
• Please clearly write your ID number (NOT your name), date, assignment number on all of your assignments and exams. Clearly mark the problem numbers and answers.
• Please write as neatly as possible. A human being is trying to read your work well enough to give credit!

Feedback:

I greatly appreciate student feedback; feedback prior to the end-of-term TQFR evaluations lets me modify the class to fit your needs. If you want to send an anonymous comment about the course to me, click here.
I also welcome any comments in person, by email to ajw AT caltech.edu, by campus mail, whatever you like.

Lecture schedule and reading, fall term:

• This is the outline of Ph106a for the 2019-20 academic year. I will fill in details of the topics covered in lectures, suggested reading, problem sets and solutions as the term progresses. Expect the links to not work until the end of the week in question!
• The assignments are due on Fridays, and will be available on the website about a week before the due date. The schedule for the lectures and assignments may change as the term progresses.
• The handouts, homework, and solutions are only accessible to computers with a Caltech IP address (131.215; either direct or by VPN; NOT Eduroam). Please let me know if you are enrolled in the class and this causes problems for you, and I will make other arrangements.
• In the suggested reading HF stands for Analytical Mechanics by Hand and Finch, T for Classical Mechanics by John Taylor, and GPS for Classical Mechanics by Goldstein, Poole, and Safko.

Acknowledgements: Most of the lecture notes and problem sets / solutions for this class were developed by Prof. Michael Cross. Many thanks to him!

Last Updated: Dec 6, 2019
Alan Weinstein/ajw AT caltech.edu