Mechanics (FYS100)

Content

Physics is a natural science, focused on gaining an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms and building blocks of the world around us through experiment and mathematical modelling. Its goal is to reduce systems, which at first sight seem highly complex, to their elementary parts and their interactions, whose behavior may be formulated in terms of simple laws (reductionism). The word simple here means that these laws allow us to make predictions of the natural world with less effort than recreating the observed system itself. I.e. physicists strive to identify among the diverse phenomena found in the natural world regularity and thus relations which allow us to reduce the description of our surroundings to a few basic principles.

Physics consists of two ingredients, the formulation of a model hypothesis about the world around us, expressed in the language of mathematics and the testing of such hypotheses through experiment. In this course you will train the skills required to contribute in both area. You will learn how to describe the behavior of mechanical systems occurring in the world around us through mathematical models, be it the linear and rotational motion of massive bodies, oscillatory motion or wave phenomena. On the way you will encounter some of the most fundamental laws physicists have identified: Newtons laws of motion and the conservation laws for mechanical energy, linear momentum and angular momentum. At the same time the lecture includes two laboratory exercises, in which you will setup, carry out and analyse experiments on linear motion and oscillatory motion. These will allow you to put into practice the concepts of units, uncertainty and hypothesis testing that we will discuss in the lectures.

Concretely we will cover the following topics:

• Kinematics
• Vectors
• Newton's laws
• work-energy relation
• conservative forces
• linear momentum
• center of mass
• rotation of rigid bodies
• torque and angular momentum
• moment of inertia
• static equilibrium
• simple harmonic motion damped and forced oscillations
• waves

Learning outcome

After completing this course, the student shall have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

K1: I can recall central concepts of classical mechanics, such as Newton's laws of motion and the conservations laws of mechanical energy, linear momentum and angular momentum.

Skills

F1: I have acquired an understanding of Newtons laws of motion and am able to apply them to describe different mechanical systems.

F2: I have developed the skill to apply the conservation laws for mechanical energy, linear and angular momentum to answer questions related to the motion of point masses and rigid bodies.

F3: I am capable of using Python to solve Newton's laws of motion with Euler's method in simple cases.

General competency

G1: I understand the value of reducing complicated systems to their basic building blocks, whose behavior I can describe by simple mathematical relations.

G2: I have learned to use well justified approximations to gain insight into the world around me.

G3: I have acquired the ability to use the language of mathematics to describe phenomena in the world around me.

Required prerequisite knowledge

Recommended prerequisites

Exam

Coursework requirements

Six of the nine hand-in assignments and the two laboratory reports must be approved by course lecturer 3 weeks ahead of examination date to get access to the exam.

The hand-ins will comprise the main elements of the course syllabus and give the student proper training in working with problems relevant for the final exam. The laboratory exercises complement the theoretical education of the students, allowing them to apply main concepts of the course syllabus in a practical setting.

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Head of Department:

Method of work

6 hours lectures and 2 hours exercises every week. The exercises will be carried out under the supervision of teaching assistants. From among the hours devoted to exercises, 8 hour in total are reserved to work on the laboratory experiments, under the supervision of the lab engineer and teaching assistants.

Language of tuition: English

Open for

Course assessment

Literature