Newtonian Dynamics: An Introduction

Author:            Richard Fitzpatrick

Publisher:         CRC Press

Publication Date:  2022

ISBN:              978-1-032-04662-4

This book provides a comprehensive review of Newtonian dynamics at a level suitable for undergraduate physics students. It demonstrates that Newton's three laws of motion, combined with a few simple force laws, not only can describe the motions of everyday objects obsevred on the surface of the Earth, but can also account for the motions of celestial objects seen in the sky. It helps bridge the probematic transition between elementary physics courses and upper-division physics courses. The book starts off at a level suitable for undergraduate (freshman) physics students and very gradually increases, until, toward the end, it approaches (but does not quite reach) a level characteristic of a graduate (senior) physics course.

1. Measurement and Units. MKS Units; Standard Prefixes; Other Units; Dimensional Analysis; Experimental Errors; Exercises.

2. Motion in One Dimension. Introduction; Displacement; Velocity; Acceleration; Motion with Constant Velocity; Motion with Constant Acceleration; Useful Results; Free-Fall Under Gravity; Exercises.

3. Motion in Three Dimensions. Introduction; Vector Mathematics; Vector Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration; Motion with Constant Velocity; Motion with Constant Acceleration; Projectile Motion; Relative Velocity; Exercises.

4. Newton's Laws of Motion. Introduction; Newton's First Law of Motion; Newton's Second Law of Motion; Measurement of Force; Newton's Third Law of Motion; Mass, Weight, and Reaction; Suspended Masses; Cable-Pulley Systems; Velocity-Dependent Forces; Friction; Inclinded Planes; Frames of Reference; Exercises.

5. Conservation of Energy. Introduction; Energy Conservation During Free-Fall; Work; Conservative and Non-Conservative Force-Fields; Potential Energy; Motion in a General One-Dimensional Potential; Power; Exercises.

6. Conservation of Momentum. Introduction; Two-Component Systems; Multi-Component Systems; Rocket Science; Impulses; Boucing Ball; One-Dimensional Collisions; Two-Dimensional Collisions; Exercises.

7. Circular Motion. Introduction; Uniform Circular Motion; Centripetal Acceleration; Rotating Weight on the End of a Cable; Banked Curve; Conical Pendulum; Non-Uniform Circular Motion; Vertical Pendulum; Motion on Curved Surfaces; Exercises.

8. Rotational Motion. Introduction; Rigid Body Rotation; Is Rotation a Vector?; Center of Mass; Moment of Inertia; Torque; Power and Work; Translational Motion Versus Rotational Motion; Unwinding Pulley; Physics of Baseball Bats; Combined Translational and Rotational Motion; Exercises.

9. Angular Momentum. Introduction; Angular Momentum of a Point Particle; Angular Momentum of an Extended Object; Angular Momentum of a Multi-Component System; Conservation of Angular Momentum; Spinning Top; Exercises.

10. Statics. Introduction; Principles of Statics; Equilibrium of a Laminar Object; Rods and Cables; Ladder and Walls; Jointed Rods; Tipping or Sliding?; Exercises.

11. Oscillatory Motion. Introduction; Simple Harmonic Motion; Torsion Pendulum; Simple Pendulum; Compound Pendulum; Exercises.

12. Rotating Reference Frames. Introduction; Rotating Reference Frames; Centrifugal Acceleration; Coriolis Force; Foucault Pendulum; Exercises.

13. Newtonian Gravity. Introduction; Universal Gravity; Gravitational Potential Energy; Circular Orbits; Exercises.

14. Orbital Motion. Introduction; Kepler's Laws; Planetary Equations of Motion; Conic Sections; Kepler's Second Law; Kepler's First Law; Kepler's Third Law; Orbital Parameters; Transfer Orbits; Low-Eccentricity Orbits; Two-Body Dynamics; Exercises.

15. Gravitational Potential Theory. Introduction; Gravitational Potential Axially-Symmetric Mass Distributions; Gravitational Potential due to a Uniform Sphere; Gravitational Potential Outside a Uniform Sphere; Rotational Flattening; Tidal Elongation; Luni-Solar Precession; Exercises.

A. Useful Mathematics. Calculus; Series Expansions; Trigonometric Identities; Hyperbolic Identities; Complex Identities; Vector Identities.

Bibliography.