Instructor: Professor Frank L. H. Wolfs
Email: wolfs@pas.rochester.edu
Office: B&L 203A (585-275-4937)
Recitation Instructors:
Office Hours:
Course Description: Mathematical introduction; review of elementary mechanics; central force problems; conservation theorems and applications; Fourier and Green's functions; variational calculus and Lagrangian multipliers; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulation of mechanics is introduced and applied; oscillations; normal mode theory; rigid body dynamics. The course is designed to satisfy part of the upper-level writing requirement.
Pre-Requisites: PHYS 121 or PHYS 141 AND MATH 281 (MATH 281 may be taken concurrently).
Credit Hours: 4 credits. This course includes 150 minutes per week of lecture time (two lectures at 75 minutes each), one recitation per week (75 minutes), and 375 minutes per week of out-of-class student work (e.g., reading assignments, writing, problem sets, study time, and other unsupervised work).
Course Objectives: In this course you will learn the ‘language of classical mechanics,’ visualize and explain mechanical processes, and develop problem solving skills and strategies. Our goal is to (1) understand the differences between different reference frames and different coordinate systems, (2) understand commonly observed mechanical systems (e.g. oscillators, chaos, waves on strings, orbital motion), and (3) explain the properties of these mechanical systems using the tools presented in the course.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this course, you will be able to:
Text: Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, Thornton and Marion (Fifth Edition). A student solution manual with solutions to about 25% of the problems in the text book is also available.
Lectures: Mondays and Wednesdays, 10.25 am - 11.40 am, B&L 106.
Recitations: Starting September 2, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The recitations will focus on the solutions of the homework sets and exams, work with other students on new problems that illustrate the material discussed in lecture, and include a question and answer session about the material discussed in lecture.
Recitation days/times:
Final Grade: The final grade will be the weighted average of:
Final exam:
Midterm exams:
Homework: Homework will be assigned at the end of each week on Friday, and will be due one week later on Friday at noon. The homework assignments must be submitted by 12.00 pm the following Friday by dropping the assignment in the PHY 235W homework locker across from B&L 106. The homework assignments are due at noon on the following dates:
Homework assignments submitted after the due date will not be graded.
Extra credit homework: Three extra credit homework assignments are available. The are not required and your score on these assignments will be added to your regular homework score. These assignments are due on the weeks when no regular homework is assigned. These extra credit homework assignments are due at noon on the following dates:
Each extra credit homework assignments carries the same weight as a regular homework assignment.
Term paper: You will be required to write a ~ 10 page paper that applies what you have learned in classical mechanics to one specific application of your choice. The topic must be approved by Professor Wolfs to ensure that the topic and scope are appropriate to P235W. The term paper also forms the basis for satisfying one unit of upper-level writing credit. Satisfaction of the upper-level writing component requires that the topic and the scope of the paper has been approved by Professor Wolfs and that students meet with a Writing Fellow from the Writing center to discuss the format and the quality of the first draft term paper prior to submitting the final term paper for grading. Click here for more details.
Due dates related to the term paper:
Academic honesty: All assignments and activities associated with this course must be performed in accordance with the University of Rochester's Academic Honesty Policy. Please review the Tips and Pittfalls webapges for excellent exampls of what to do to avoid possible violations of the Academic Honesty Policy. You are prohibited from looking at Chegg.com for any purpose while taking this course. Any suspected use of Chegg.com and similar sites on any homework assignment or exam, will be reported as a suspected violation of the academic honesty policy of the University of Rochester. The use of Artificial Intelligence to write the term paper is strictly forbidden. All papers will be checked for plagiarism and AI. Any suspected plagiarism and use of AI will be reported as a suspected violation of the academic honesty policy of the University of Rochester.
Note: all times listed on this syllabus are times in the Eastern timezone of the USA (Rochester time).
Last updated on Thursday, September 4, 2025 18:13
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