MECHANICS THIRD EDITION by L. D. LANDAU anp E. M. LIFSHITZ INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL PROBLEMS, U5..R. ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Volume 1 of Course of Theoretical Physics Translated from the Russian by J.B. SYKES ano J. S. BELL954 LAN Batterworth-Heinenann Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 80P A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ld QA member of te Reed Hover pe group OXFORD BOSTON JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEW DELHI SINGAPORE ‘Translated from the 8rd revised and enlarged edition of Medkanéke by L. D, Landan and E. M. Lifshitz, Nauka, Moscow 1993 First published by Pergamon Press ple 1960 Second edition 1969 ‘Third edition 1976 Reprinted 1978, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991 1996, 1997, 1998. 1999, 2000 © Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 1981 All rights reserved, No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including, photocopying or storing in ary medium by electronic ‘means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to ‘some other use of this publication) without the written ‘permission of the copyright holder except in accordance ‘with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England WIP 9HE. Applications for te copyright holder's written [permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data, Landau, Lev Davidovich, 1908-68 Mechanics (Course of theoretical physics; ¥: 1) Translation ‘of Mekhanika by E. M. Lifshitz. Lifshitz: p. Includes bibliographical references and index 1. Mechanics. Analytic 1. Lifshitz, Evgenii. Mikhailovich, {bint author Il. Title QAG05:L283 1976 S31.0I'S15 76-1897 ISBN 0.7506 2896 0 Printed and bound in India by Gopsons Papers Ltd, NOIDACONTENTS Preface to the third English edition L.D, Landau—a biography I. THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION Generalised co-ordinates The principle of least action Galileo's relativity principle ‘The Lagrangian for a free particle ‘The Lagrangian for a system of particles Il. CONSERVATION LAWS Energy Momentum Centre of mass Angular momentum Mechanical similarity vii wate IH. INTEGRATION OF THE EQUATIONS OF MOTION Motion in one dimension Determination of the potential energy from the period of oscillation The reduced mass ‘Motion in a central field Kepler's problem Iv. COLLISIONS BETWEEN PARTICLES Disintegration of particles Elastic collisions Scattering Rutherford’s formula ‘Small-angle scattering assets