Classical Mechanics

Note: Take a look at the free lectures! Scroll up to "Course content" and click on "Expand all sections." The "preview" lectures are free. That might help you to get a better feeling of what's about.

What is this course about? It is a foundational course designed to introduce you to the fundamental laws and principles that govern the natural world as we experience it on human scales. Classical mechanics is one of the most fundamental and essential courses in a physics or engineering curriculum. It is the study of the motion of bodies under the influence of forces, and it forms the bedrock of our understanding of the physical world. This course explores how and why objects move—from simple systems like falling bodies and swinging pendulums to more complex ones like planetary orbits and rotating rigid bodies. Whether you are majoring in physics, engineering, mathematics, or a related discipline, a solid grasp of classical mechanics is crucial. This subject not only helps you understand the world around you in quantitative terms, but it also develops your ability to think critically, solve complex problems, and apply mathematical tools to physical situations. Classical mechanics, sometimes referred to as Newtonian or Galilean Mechanics, was the first comprehensive theory of nature. Developed during the 17th and 18th centuries, it provided the framework that led to many technological advancements and laid the groundwork for subsequent developments in thermodynamics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and relativity. Even though modern physics has extended our understanding beyond the limits of classical mechanics, the classical theory remains highly accurate and useful for a wide range of everyday and engineering problems.

Why this course? Despite being centuries old, classical mechanics continues to be deeply relevant. For one, the vast majority of systems we encounter in everyday life—cars, machines, buildings, sports, weather patterns—are well described by classical mechanics. Engineers designing bridges, aircraft, and mechanical devices still rely on Newton’s laws and related principles for accurate predictions and designs. Moreover, classical mechanics is a gateway to advanced physics. It introduces students to crucial ideas like conservation laws, symmetry, reference frames, and mathematical modeling. These are foundational not just in physics but also in applied mathematics, computer science, and other STEM disciplines.
The intellectual rigor of classical mechanics also sharpens your analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. These skills are universally valuable—whether you're troubleshooting a malfunctioning device, modeling financial systems, or simply understanding how the world works. Finally, classical mechanics offers aesthetic and philosophical rewards. There is a deep beauty in the way the universe follows precise and elegant laws. Classical Mechanics is more than just an academic requirement—it is a journey into understanding how the universe works on a fundamental level. You will find great satisfaction in discovering how a small set of principles can explain a vast range of phenomena, from a spinning top to the motion of planets. Whether you are fascinated by the elegance of planetary motion, curious about the mechanics behind machines, or simply eager to develop strong analytical skills, this course will challenge and inspire you. By the end of this course, you will not only have a deeper understanding of the physical world but also a toolkit for approaching complex problems in any scientific or engineering context.
However, most textbooks introduce the subject with extensive calculus rigor over hundreds of pages, while popular media often skips it altogether. This course, instead, takes a balanced approach, offering an intermediate-level and concise exploration of the topic. It presents the fundamentals in a conceptually rigorous manner, limiting the mathematical complexity and avoiding excessive detail. This course could serve as ideal introductory training, preparing you for a comprehensive university-level course.

What you will learn. This is a course on the conceptual foundations of classical mechanics that spans from the early ideas introduced by Galileo, Newton, and Descartes to modern non-linear deterministic chaos theory. It begins with an overview of the birth of classical mechanics, a pivotal event in the history of modern science.
The course covers the following topics:

1. Kinematics – The description of motion without considering its causes. This includes the study of position, velocity, and acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions.

2. Newton’s Laws of Motion – The foundation of dynamics, these laws describe how forces cause changes in motion.

3. Work, Energy, and Power – Concepts like kinetic energy, potential energy, and the work-energy theorem help us analyze systems in terms of energy conservation.

4. Momentum, Collisions, and Center of Mass – Linear momentum, impulse, and the conservation of momentum are powerful tools for analyzing interactions between objects.

5. The physics of the inclined Plane - You will learn how to analyze the components of gravitational force acting on an object along and perpendicular to the slope, allowing you to determine the object's acceleration, frictional forces, and net motion.

6. Rotational Motion – This involves angular velocity, angular acceleration, angular acceleration, angular momentum, centripetal and centrifugal forces, torque, moment of inertia, rotational kinetic energy, and the rotational analogs of Newton’s laws.

7. Rigid Body Dynamics – Motion of extended objects that rotate and translate simultaneously, including moment of inertia and center of mass.

8. Oscillations – Simple harmonic motion and the simple pendulum, with an introduction to waves.

9. Gravitation – Newton’s law of universal gravitation, orbital motion, and Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

10. Non-linear dynamics - Concluding remarks on non-linear dynamics, the two and three-body problem, with a philosophical discussion on determinism and chaos.

Overall, this course allows you to model real-world physical systems using idealizations like point masses and rigid bodies, analyze mechanical systems, build intuition for physical phenomena, and appreciate the predictive power of classical mechanics.

Who is it for? This course is designed for students who struggle to transition from the intuitive approaches of middle and high school physical sciences to the more formal and rigorous concepts of a professional development course. It is neither a continuation of the former nor a full embrace of the latter, but rather a bridge between the two. This course aims to facilitate entry into undergraduate and graduate studies not only in physics but also in engineering, biology, chemistry, and any fields that require mandatory physics tests. Additionally, philosophers or self-learners interested in the philosophy of science, who lack formal instruction in this area, may benefit from this introductory course in classical mechanics as it provides a solid technical foundation. Furthermore, it serves as a good precursor for those who plan to enroll in my other Udemy course on quantum physics, titled “Quantum Physics: An Overview of a Weird World.”