Classical Mechanics

Lecture 1

What is classical mechanics

Befer the discovery of quantum mechanics there was only

mechanics Thus classical mechanics is that of part
mec anics
which excludes quantum mechanics Roughly speaking
clas ical
mechanics describes the physics
of particles and bodies
which are much larger Than atoms and molecules However the
demarcation between the two realms is not always clear

In This course we shall mainly be concerned with reformulating

Newton's laws in more sophisticated and elegantforms But it

turns out these laws break down not only when the particles are

very small but also when the velocity of the particles are
great i e close to the speed of light Infact light not only
breaks Newtonian physics it also breaks the space time in
which Newtonian physics lives

But this is only noticeable when speeds of the particles

involves the
approach the speed of light So mechanics also
intr duction
of the special theory of relativity Since this mechani
is also not quantum we must include it in classical mech
anics Infact it is encumbent upon special relativity w̅ yield
Newtonian mechanics in the limit
taking the speed
0

of light to infinity

The specialTheory of relativity introduces a new

ge metry
of space time known as Minkowski space time
Reviewof Newtonian Mechanics

Let P x y Z be the position of a particle which is define

to have insignificant dimensions buthas non zero mass Then
Newton's second law states
Fli F
where F is the net force on the particle and p mi is its
momentum We are usually able to identify the sources that
contribute to the net force electromagnetic field gravitational

field contactforces ok
If Fnef 0 then weget P is a

con tant
A reference frame in which
f constant is in the
absence net force due to real forces is called an intertial
a

Newton's 1st law

frame This is
Examples of non inertialframes 1 It ref frame attached to
a rotating body 2 A reference frame attached to
any
 9 1
accelerating body Infact 2 1

Galilean Relativity
Newton's law is invariant means doesn't change its form
under the following continuous transformations

1 3 Rotations Ñ F Or where 0 is a 3 3 orthogonal

matrix and det 0 1

2 Space translation in 3 directions I Ñ a where

a is constant displacement vector

3 Translation in the time direction t ttc

for
c a real number

4 Velocity boosts in 3 directions it it w̅ where

w̅ is a constant velocity vector

These 10 transformations can be combined in

any way imagine
able and we will still of Newton's laws
get a symmetry

These transformations together form a closed set under

comp sition
and therefore they form a group the Galileangroup
 J is g
The Galileangroup can be thought of as capturing the symmetric
of Newtonian space time Just as different spaces can have
different symmetries spacetimes can also have different
sym etries
Examples What are the symmetries
of
1 a sphere 5013

2 An Euclidean plane SO 2 K 1R
3 I Lobachevsky plane 2 d hyperboloid
50 112

Torqueand Angular momentum

These bodies and equilibrium

concepts are important forrotating
extended objects
of If we define torque on a particle as
E ñxÉ
and the angular momentum as I ÑxP then Newton's law

us
gives
I É
This very similar to
looks Newton's law and is a simple

measured with
cons quence
of it Note I
0 doesnot mean I 0 I I are

respect to a
single point

Analogous to F P constant we also have E o

 I constant Conservation
of angular momentum
Example Suppose there is a rotating object a motorized
say
rotor in an box
opaque

Suppose the box is sound proof and the rotor is so smooth That
it produces no vibrations
Is there a way to test whether the motor is on without

openingthe box

Note that the definition

of T and I involve the
origin of our reference system since they both involve
the position vector w̅ y

Y
f 5
1

X
a 0

I ÑxI I Ñ'xÉ

é ñxF I ñ'xT
We see fromthe above example that I I are different in

different inertial referenceframes What does it implyfor the law

I I
To see how this law would look like in the primed ref

frame we assume the two frames are related a Galilean

by
translation Vector
F t T E a is a constant

Then I Ñ'xÉ ExF I a xÉ

and I I a xp
Thus in the new reference frame we
get

E ñxÉ i a xp
I É Ex
III
I É
Thus we see eventhough I I depend on the reference

frame the equation relating them is independent of the ref

frame used as long as it is inertial
 Energy and Work

The Work KineticEnergy Theorem

Now suppose that the mass m
of our particle remains constant

and we do work on the particle by applying force on it

72

f
F dñ
WE

w̅

Note that the displacement of the particle need not be exclusive

due to the forcewhose work is being calculated The could
be otherforces involved in moving the particle around

If the motion of the particle is exclusively dueto the froce F then

according to Newton's law the work done by theforce is

ñ
do
WE mg
w̅

But w̅ t since it is the position of the particle

we can write
 IF at
If it
2

t.it zfdlÉ
infi.it If
at
Then W

W mÉ mF i1

W T ta T t Work KineticEnergyTheorem
where T t Milt is called the kinetic energy

Conservative
forces

If the work done force when the particle is moved

by a

around in loop is zero then we call that force

a closed

conservative
E di o

If this is the case we can introduce a scalarfunction V

associated with the conservative force such that
F TVE
Note that VCR is defined up to an arbitrary constant
gives rise to the same F Then
F F c

we have
IV di o
This means we can associate to each point in space a unique
value of i and as the particle is moved by the force

from point w̅ to 72 the change in the potential

energy
is independent of the path it takes

A
T2
F di o

B Consefative
ñ
in SF di
SE di
F
72
72 72 PathA
path2
F di E di
i Path Indepence of
Path A PathB conservative forces

And so applying the work theorem

energy
T2 w̅ T t2 TCI
V Facts T t2 VINCE TCH E

Thus we see that the sole action of a conservative

force
the first integral of motion E V t TH is conserved
E Total mechanical energy
1