PH031 – Modern Mechanics

Fall 2021

Dr.Waleed Zein
Associate Professor
Faculty of Engineering - EUI
Waleed.zein@eui.edu.eg
Or walidzein@gmail.com
Whatsapp : 01129366633
 Course Aim
Develop practical skills about using
fundamental principles to solve physics
quantitative problems.

Textbook
Matter & Interactions – Volume 1 – Modern Mechanics (4th
Edition), by Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood (Wiley).
 Grading Schema

Final Exam 40
Practical Exam 10
Midterm 20
10
Quizzes +
Student Assignments & 10
Activities Lab reports 10
Total = 100
 Course Syllabus
Week Lecture Contents
1 1 Interactions and Motion
2 2 The Momentum Principle
3 3 The Fundamental Interactions
4 4 Contact Interactions
5 5 Determining Forces from Motion
6 6 The Energy Principle
7 Midterm Exam
8 7 Internal Energy
9 8 Energy Quantization
10 9 Translational, Rotational, and Vibrational Energy
11 10 Collisions
12 11 Angular Momentum
13 Review week
14 Final Exam
OBJECTIVES

After studying this lecture you should be able to

• Deduce from observations of an object’s motion whether or not

it has interacted with its surroundings.

• Mathematically describe position and motion in three

dimensions.

• Mathematically describe momentum and change of momentum

in three dimensions.

• Read and modify a simple computational model of motion at

constant velocity.
 Kinds of matter

Nuclei Atoms

=1 Å (Angström)

Interacting protons and neutrons Interacting nuclei and electrons

 Kinds of matter
Solids: Interacting molecules and atoms
Billions of atoms or molecules come together
Atoms are fixed in 3D array

Salt
crystal

Silicon crystal

STM images

Amorphous Germanium
 Kinds of matter
Liquids: Atoms are still bond to each other but can freely slide along
each other

Water

Dynamics is complex: we will not consider liquid in detail in this course

 Kinds of matter
Gases: Atoms are not bound to each other
Energy of atoms is too large and Interatomic forces are broken
 Example

Magnitude and Direction

Factor the vector ⃗v = ⟨-22.3, 0.4,-19.5⟩ m/s into a magnitude
times a unit vector.

Solution
 Example
Average Velocity of a Bee
Consider a bee in flight. At time ti = 15.0 s after 9:00 AM, the bee’s position
vector was ⃗ri = ⟨2, 4, 0⟩ m. At time tf = 15.1 s after 9:00 AM, the bee’s position
vector was ⃗rf = ⟨3, 3.5, 0⟩ m. What was the average velocity of the bee during
this interval? Express this vector as the product of the magnitude of the
velocity (speed) and a unit vector in the direction of the velocity.

Solution
 Newton’s first law of motion

Every body persists in its state of rest or of moving with

constant speed in a constant direction, except to the extent
that it is compelled to change that state by forces acting on it.
 Detecting interactions

Objects made of matter interact with each other: Gravitationally

Electrically
Magnetically
Through strong and weak interaction

Detecting interaction:

➢Change of speed

➢Change of direction

➢Change of velocity

Velocity: a physical quantity that has magnitude and direction

(speed)
vector
 Indicators of interaction

➢ Change of velocity
➢ Change of identity H2 + O2 → H2O
➢ Change of shape bending a wire
➢ Change of temperature heating pot of water on a hot stove
➢ Lack of change when change is expected balloon floating in sky

Uniform motion: velocity is constant

 Motion

Non-uniform motion

Velocity changes in time

Uniform motion: velocity is constant

Special case: an object at rest (velocity is zero, direction undefined)

Uniform motion implies that there is no “net” interaction