Course Calendar

Topics are subject to change based on course pace and student needs.

All assignments are turned in using Gradescope as a single PDF.

📅 Class Week 1

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW3 12 Jan Introduction to the course; reminders about vectors; software setup 📓 01 - Overture: What is Classical Physics?
📚 MLB Ch 3.4		 📝 Homework 1 Assigned (Due 23 Jan)
14 Jan Newton’s 1st and 2nd Law; Motion in 1 dimension 📚 JRT 1.1-1.4; AMS Ch 1-4
16 Jan Getting Started with VS Code; Using AI in this Class 📓 02 - Computing is a Necessary Tool for Science

📅 Class Week 2

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW4 19 Jan Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No Class) 📝 Homework 2 Assigned (Due 30 Jan)
21 Jan Newton’s Laws; Motion in 2 and 3 dimensions 📚 JRT 1.4-1.6; AMS Ch 4.2 and 5
23 Jan Workshop day 📥 Homework 1 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 3

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW5 26 Jan Modeling and equations of motion 📓 03 - What is Mathematical Modeling?
📚 JRT 1.4-1.6		 📝 Homework 3 Assigned (Due 6 Feb)
28 Jan Air Resistance
30 Jan Workshop day 📥 Homework 2 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 4

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW6 2 Feb Air Resistance; Central Forces 📓 04 - Why does fluid drag complicate things?
📚 JRT 2.1-2.4		 📝 Homework 4 Assigned (Due 13 Feb)
4 Feb Euler-Cromer Integration 💻 Programming Resources
(Euler Integration)
(Numerical Integrators)		 📓 02 - Computing is a Necessary Tool for Science - Euler Discretization
📚 Newman, Computational Physics Ch 08 - Ordinary Differential Equations
6 Feb Workshop day 📥 Homework 3 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 5

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW7 9 Feb Work Energy Theorem 📓 05 - Conservation Laws Govern and Constrain our Physics
📚 JRT 4.1-4.3
11 Feb Conservative Forces and Potential 📚 JRT 4.1-4.4, 4.6
13 Feb No Classes Held 📥 Homework 4 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 6

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW8 16 Feb Examples and Stability Analysis 📓 06 - Nature Often Seeks Stability
📚 JRT 4.1-4.4, 4.6; MLB 6.6-6.8		 📝 Midterm Project 1 Assigned (Due 27 Feb)
18 Feb Conservation of Momentum and Angular Momentum 📓 05 - Conservation Laws Govern and Constrain our Physics
📚 JRT 3.1, 3.3-3.4
20 Feb Workshop day

📅 Class Week 7

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW9 23 Feb Nonlinear dynamics, phase portraits 📓 07 - Introducing Nonlinear Dynamics
📚 Strogatz, Nonlinear Dynamics 2.0-2.3; 5.0-5.2		 📝 Homework 5 Assigned (Due 13 Mar)
25 Feb Phase portraits, numerical modeling PDFs posted are consistent with educational fair use; will be removed after course has concluded
27 Feb Workshop day 📥 Midterm Project 1 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 8

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW10 2 Mar Spring Break (No Class)
4 Mar Spring Break (No Class)
6 Mar Spring Break (No Class)

📅 Class Week 9

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW11 9 Mar Oscillations; Damping 📓 08 - Oscillations, Cycles, and Nature’s Recurrences
📚 JRT 5.1-5.2, 5.4; MLB 7.1-7.2; 8.5		 📝 Homework 6 Assigned (Due 20 Mar)
11 Mar Oscillations; Damping
13 Mar Workshop day 📥 Homework 5 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 10

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW12 16 Mar Driven Oscillations; Resonance 📓 09 - Driving Oscillators and Resonance Phenomenon
📚 JRT 5.5-5.6; MLB 8.6		 📝 Homework 7 Assigned (Due 27 Mar)
18 Mar Driven Oscillations; Resonance
20 Mar Workshop day 📥 Homework 6 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 11

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW13 23 Mar Introduction to Chaos 📓 10 - Investigating Systems that Exhibit Chaotic Dynamics
25 Mar Hallmarks of Classical Chaos Series
27 Mar Workshop day 📥 Homework 7 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 12

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW14 30 Mar Calculus of Variations; Euler-Lagrange Equation 📓 11 - Reformulating Classical Mechanics using the Calculus of Variations
📚 JRT 6.1-6.3; MLB 9.1-9.4		 📝 Midterm Project 2 Assigned (Due 10 Apr)
1 Apr Euler-Lagrange Equation Examples
3 Apr Workshop day

📅 Class Week 13

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW15 6 Apr Introduction to Lagrangian Dynamics 📓 12 - The Core Principle of Classical Mechanics? The Principle of Least Action
📚 JRT 7.1-7.2, 7.5; MLB 9.5		 📝 Homework 8 Assigned (Due 17 Apr)
8 Apr Lagrangian Dynamics Examples Session
10 Apr Workshop Day 📥 Midterm Project 2 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 14

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW16 13 Apr Lagrangian Dynamics Examples 📓 13 - Applying the Lagrangian Formulation
📚 JRT 7.3-7.7, 7.10		 📝 Final Project Assigned
Recorded Presentations (27 Apr)
Computational Essay (1 May)
15 Apr Lagrangian Dynamics with Constraints
17 Apr Workshop day 📥 Homework 8 Due
(Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

📅 Class Week 15

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW17 20 Apr Final Project Prep 📓 14 - Classical Mechanics Thus Far
22 Apr Final Project Prep
24 Apr Final Project Prep

📅 Class Week 16

Week Day Topic Readings to Prepare Important Events
CW18 27 Apr FINALS WEEK 🎉 Final Project Video Presentation Due at 11:59pm
Send link to video
(MSU Mediaspace or YouTube unlisted)
29 Apr FINALS WEEK
1 May FINALS WEEK 🎉 Final Project and Peer Reviews Due at 11:59pm
Turn in project single zip file on D2L
Peer reviews will use a form