King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Physics Department
PHYS 300 – Classical Mechanics I
Term 221 – Fall 2022

Course Newton’s laws of motion and conservation theorems; Forced damped oscillations;
Coupled oscillations; Lagrangian dynamics; Hamilton’s equations of motion; Central-
Description force motion; Dynamics of systems of particles; Motion in a non-inertial reference
frame; Dynamics of rigid bodies including properties of inertia tensor.
(KFUPM Undergraduate Bulletin 2021)

Learning 1. Know Newton’s laws of motion for point particles, their underpinnings, the ensuing
conservation laws, and their limitations.
Outcomes 2. Describe linear oscillatory motion in one- and two-dimensional problems for simple
mechanical systems and analyze problems on damped, forced and coupled oscillatory
systems.
3. Know Hamilton’s Principle, its underpinnings, the resulting Euler-Lagrange and Hamilton’s
equations of motion, and the ensuing conservation.
4. Know the Euler-Lagrange equations to the study of two-body problems with central forces
and about the properties of Keplerian orbits.
5. Know the dynamics of a system of particles, in particular collisions and the properties of
Rutherford scattering formula.
6. Know the single particle motion in rotating frames of reference and the difference between
inertial and non-inertial reference frames.
7. Know the rigid body motion in terms of inertia tensors and principal axes of inertia.

Prerequisites PHYS 101, PHYS 210 or MATH 333 or MATH 302

Textbook Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, By S. T. Thornton and J. B. Marion,

fifth edition, Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning (2008)

Instructor Dr. M.F. Al-Kuhaili (Building 6, Room 225)

http://faculty.kfupm.edu.sa/PHYS/kuhaili/

Class Times Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 13:00 – 13:50

Attendance A regular student should attend all classes. A student may be discontinued from a course and denied
entrance to the final examination if his attendance is less than the limit determined by the University
Council. This limit cannot be less than 75% of classes assigned to the course during the semester (i.e.
12 absences). A student who is denied entrance to the examination due to excessive absences will be
considered as having failed that course with a DN grade.

Grading Policy Assignments ………………..... 10 points

Quizzes ………………………. 20 points
Exam 1 ……………………….. 30 points ……. Chapters 1 – 5
Exam 2 ……………………….. 40 points ……. Chapters 7 – 12
 PHYS 300 Lecture Schedule – Term 221 – Fall 2022
Week Day Lecture Topics Chapter Sections
SUN 28 Aug 1 Coordinate transformations 01 1-8
TUE 30 Aug 2 Vector products 01 9-12
1
WED 31 Aug 3 Vector differentiation 01 13-15
THR 01 Sep 4 Vector integration 01 16-17
SUN 04 Sep 5 First-order and second-order ODEs aux ---
TUE 06 Sep 6 Review aux ---
2
WED 07 Sep --- Quiz 1 (Chapter 1) --- ---
THR 08 Sep 7 Newton’s laws (Ex. 2.1–2.3, 2.9) 02 1-4
SUN 11 Sep 8 Effects of retarding forces (Ex. 2.4–2.7) 02 4
TUE 13 Sep 9 Effects of retarding forces (Ex. 2.4–2.7) 02 4
3
WED 14 Sep 10 Other examples 02 4
THR 15 Sep 11 Conservation theorems 02 5
SUN 18 Sep 12 Energy 02 6
TUE 20 Sep 13 Problems on energy 02 5,6
4
WED 21 Sep --- Quiz 2 (Chapter 2) --- ---
THR 22 Sep --- National Day Holiday
SUN 25 Sep 14 Simple harmonic oscillator 03 1,2
TUE 27 Sep 15 Harmonic motion in two dimensions, Phase diagrams 03 3,4
5
WED 28 Sep 16 Damped oscillations: underdamped motion 03 5
THR 29 Sep 17 Damped oscillations: critically damped and overdamped motion 03 5
SUN 02 Oct 18 Sinusoidal driving forces, Resonance 03 6
TUE 04 Oct 19 Physical systems, Superposition 03 7,8
6
WED 05 Oct 20 Nonlinear oscillations and phase diagrams 04 1-3
THR 06 Oct 21 Plane pendulum, Jumps and hysteresis 04 4-8
SUN 09 Oct --- Quiz 3 (Chapter 3) --- ---
TUE 11 Oct 22 Gravitational force, Gravitational potential 05 1,2
7
WED 12 Oct 23 Gravitational potential, Poisson equation 05 2-4
THR 13 Oct --- Quiz 4 (Chapter 5) --- ---
Midterm Exam: Chapters 1 – 5
SUN 16 Oct 24 Calculus of variation, Euler’s equation 06 1-3
TUE 18 Oct 25 Second form of Euler’s equation,  notation 06 4-7
8
WED 19 Oct 26 Hamilton’s principle, generalized coordinates 07 1-3
THR 20 Oct 27 Lagrange’s equation of motion 07 4
SUN 23 Oct 28 Lagrange’s equation of motion 07 4
TUE 25 Oct 29 Lagrange’s equations with undetermined multipliers 07 5
9
WED 26 Oct 30 Equivalence of Newtonian & Lagrangian mechanics 07 6-9
THR 27 Oct 31 Canonical equations of motion, Hamilton dynamics 07 10
SUN 30 Oct 32 Central forces, Reduced mass, Conservation theorems, Eqn. of motion 08 1-4
TUE 01 Nov 33 Orbits, Centrifugal energy 08 4-6
10
WED 02 Nov 34 Planetary motion 08 7
THR 03 Nov 35 Orbital dynamics, Apsidal angle 08 8,9
SUN 06 Nov 36 Stability of orbits 08 10
TUE 08 Nov --- Quiz 5 (Chapter 7) --- ---
11
WED 09 Nov 37 Center of mass, Linear and angular momenta of a system 09 1-4
THR 10 Nov 38 Energy of a system 09 5
SUN 13 Nov 39 Elastic collisions 09 6
TUE 15 Nov 40 Kinematics of elastic collisions 09 7
12
WED 16 Nov 41 Inelastic collisions, Cross sections, Rutherford scattering formula 09 8-10
THR 17 Nov 42 Rocket Motion 09 11
SUN 20 Nov --- Quiz 6 (Chapter 8) --- ---
TUE 22 Nov 43 Rotating coordinate systems, Centrifugal and Coriolis forces 10 1-3
13
WED 23 Nov 44 Motion relative to the Earth 10 4
THR 24 Nov --- Quiz 7 (Chapter 9) --- ---
27 November – 01 December 2022 : Midterm Break
SUN 04 Dec 45 Inertia tensor 11 1-3
TUE 06 Dec 46 Angular momentum, Principal axes 11 4,5
14
WED 07 Dec 47 Transformation of coordinate systems, Eulerian angles 11 6,8
THR 08 Dec 48 Euler equations for a rigid body, Symmetric top 11 9,10
Dr. M. F. Al-Kuhaili

SUN 11 Dec 49 Two coupled harmonic oscillators 12 1,2

TUE 13 Dec 50 General problem of coupled oscillators 12 4
15
WED 14 Dec 51 Normal coordinates 12 6,7
THR 15 Dec --- Quiz 8 (Chapter 10) --- ---
16 SUN 18 Dec --- Review --- ---
Final Exam: Chapters 7,8,9,11,12