Special Topics in Classical Mechanics

Instructor: Professor P.C. Deshmukh, Department of Physics, IIT Madras.

This course has grown out of the first course in Physics taught to engineering students at IIT-Madras. However, the contents are expanded to include the interests of students of basic sciences and a strong emphasis on the foundations of classical mechanics is aimed at.

Essentially, foundations of 'classical mechanics' would include a comprehensive introduction to Newtonian, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, and include an introduction to mechanics of a system of particles, fluid mechanics, introduction to 'chaos', to the special theory of relativity and also to electrodynamics.

The course is designed as the first-course students would take after high school, and the scope of some of the advanced topics that are introduced is therefore restricted. A comfortable introduction, adequately rigorous but not overly involved, to advanced applications, is attempted. In this course, we emphasize that 'observation' and 'measurements' play a fundamental role in Physics.

We introduce mathematical methods as and where needed, but keep the focus on physical principles. The course aims, even as it will provide a rigorous introduction to the foundations of classical mechanics, at discovering the romance in physics, beauty in its simplicity, and rigor in its formulation.

Mod-01 Lec-01 Course Overview.
Mod-01 Lec-02 Equations of Motion.
Mod-01 Lec-03 Equations of Motion(ii).
Mod-01 Lec-04 Equations of Motion(iii).
Mod-01 Lec-05 Equations of Motion(iv).
Mod-01 Lec-06 Equations of Motion(v).
Mod-02 Lec-07 Oscillators, Resonances, Waves(i).
Mod-02 Lec-08 Oscillators, Resonances, Waves(ii).
Mod-02 Lec-09 Oscillators, Resonances, Waves(iii).
Mod-02 Lec-10 Oscillators, Resonances, Waves(iv).
Mod-03 Lec-11 Polar Coordinates(i).
Mod-03 Lec-12 Polar Coordinates(iI).
Mod-04 Lec-13 Dynamical Symmetry in the Kepler Problem(i).
Mod-04 Lec-14 Dynamical Symmetry in the Kepler Problem(ii).
Mod-05 Lec-15 Real Effects of Pseudo-Forces.
Mod-05 Lec-16 Real Effects of Pseudo-Forces(ii).
Mod-05 Lec-17 Real Effects of Pseudo-Forces(iii).
Mod-05 Lec-18 Real Effects of Pseudo-Forces(iv).
Mod-06 Lec-19 Special Theory of Relativity(i).
Mod-06 Lec-20 Special Theory of Relativity(ii).
Mod-06 Lec-21 Special Theory of Relativity(iii).
Mod-06 Lec-22 Special Theory of Relativity(iv).
Mod-07 Lec-23 Potentials Gradients Fields(i).
Mod-07 Lec-24 Potentials Gradients Fields(ii).
Mod-07 Lec-25 Potentials Gradients Fields(iii).
Mod-08 Lec-26 Gauss Law Eq of continuity(i).
Mod-08 Lec-27 Gauss Law Eq of continuity(ii).
Mod-08 Lec-28 Gauss Law Eq of continuity(iii).
Mod-09 Lec-29 Fluid Flow Bernoulli Principle (i).
Mod-09 Lec-30 Fluid Flow Bernoulli Principle (ii).
Mod-10 Lec-31 Classical Electrodynamics (i).
Mod-10 Lec-32 Classical Electrodynamics (ii).
Mod-10 Lec-33 Classical Electrodynamics (iii).
Mod-10 Lec-34 Classical Electrodynamics (iv).
Mod-11 Lec-35 Chaotic Dynamical Systems (i).
Mod-11 Lec-36 Chaotic Dynamical Systems (ii).
Mod-11 Lec-37 Chaotic Dynamical Systems (iii).
Mod-11 Lec-38 Chaotic Dynamical Systems (iv).
Mod-11 Lec-39 Chaotic Dynamical Systems (v).
Mod-12 Lec-40 The Scope and Limitations of Classical Mechanics.