Overview of Theoretical and Computational Mechanics

Instructors

• Lecturer: Dick Furnstahl

  • Email: furnstahl.1@osu.edu

  • Office: OSU Department of Physics, PRB, room M2048

Objectives

The goal of this class is to deepen our understanding of classical mechanics and physics areas that build on its intuition, which will include exploiting numerical simulations and computer visualizations using Python in Jupyter notebooks.  No previous experience with Python or Jupyter is assumed, but some experience in programming (e.g., a class in C++) is assumed. We will begin by applying simulations to familiar problems formulated with Newtonian mechanics before turning to  the Lagrangian formulation of mechanics, which provides a powerful alternative to Newton’s laws. We will apply it to complex mechanical systems, including coupled oscillations, nonlinear phenomena (chaos!), and the mechanics of continuous media.  We will also consider the Hamiltonian formulation of mechanics and some aspects of collision theory.