2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Basic science and technology courses
Fundamentals of Mechanics 2 N
- Academic unit or major
- Basic science and technology courses
- Instructor(s)
- Toshi-Aki Shibata
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Fri
- Class
- N
- Course Code
- LAS.P102
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Following Fundamentals of Mechanics 1, this course teaches the mechanics of systems of interacting particles and rigid bodies (defined as systems of particles in which the distances between particles is fixed) as well as particle motion observed in a coordinate system undergoing acceleration.
Mechanics is important for understanding nature, and is essential for the study of science, engineering, life sciences, and other specialized courses. Building on the mechanics of single particles, students will learn the mechanics of systems of interacting particles. From this, they will learn the motion and balance of rigid bodies. In addition, they will learn particle motion in coordinate systems undergoing accelerated motion as well as inertial forces. At the end of class, students will be able to solve general problems in mechanics.
Thermodynamics, waves, and energy utilization are also key topics that will be covered in this course.
Course description and aims
By completing this course, students will be able to:
1) Correctly understand the concepts of momentum, angular momentum, energy, etc. in systems of particles; the center of mass, moment of inertia, etc. in rigid bodies; and mathematically describe them.
2) Correctly understand motion and equilibrium of rigid bodies, and solve actual physical problems by applying the appropriate mathematical formulas.
3) Correctly understand the concept of inertial forces (Coliolis force and centrifugal force) and mathematically describe them.
4) Correctly understand oscillatory and wave motion, and mathematically describe them.
5) Find mathematical solutions to problems in mechanics, expressed by the appropriate equations, and explain the physical meaning of said solutions.
Keywords
relative coordinates, reduced mass, center of mass, momentum, angular momentum, energy, rigid bodies, equilibrium, moment of inertia, inertial force, Coriolis force, centrifugal force, thermodynamics, waves
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Two-thirds of each class is devoted to fundamentals and the rest to advanced content or application. To allow students to get a good grasp of the course contents and practice problem solving skills, problems related to the contents of this course are provided in Exercises in Physics I.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Motion of two interacting particles (relative coordinates, reduced mass) | Be able to explain that the motion of two interacting particles is equivalent to the motion of a single particle. |
| Class 2 | Momentum and angular momentum in a system of particles (center of mass, laws of conservation of momentum and angular momentum) | Be able to explain the laws of conservation of momentum and angular momentum for a system of particles. |
| Class 3 | Equations of motion and equilibrium of a rigid body (torque, conditions for equilibirum) | Be able to explain the equations of motion for a rigid body and its equilibrium properties. |
| Class 4 | Motion of a rigid body around a fixed axis (moment of inertia, angular momentum and energy of a rigid body, rigid body pendulum) | Be able to explain the concept of moment of inertia and how it is used to define the angular momentum and kinetic energy of a rigid body. |
| Class 5 | Calculation of moments of inertia (parallel axis theorem, perpendicular axis theorem) for various rigid bodies | Be able to find moments of inertia for various rigid body shapes. |
| Class 6 | Planar motion of a rigid body (rotational motion) | Be able to explain rotational motion of a rigid body. |
| Class 7 | Motion in an accelerated coordinate system. The opportunity for students to explain mechanics by oral presentations is also provided. | Be able to compare and contrast the Coriolis force with the centrifugal force. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Not specified. Textbooks are introduced during the course whenever necessary.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
MIT OpenCourseWare(OCW) 8.01SC 'Classical mechanics' is one of the references.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Grades are evaluated by examination and reports. They are subject to change due to circumstances.
Related courses
- LAS.P105 ： Exercises in Physics I
Prerequisites
No prerequisites.
Other
・As is written above, this course consists of 100 minutes of lecture and about 200 minutes of review and so on by students themselves each week. Students are expected to design by themselves how they study in this course and proceed according to their plans.
・Students are expected to have a physics textbook of high school always at hand. One of the important goals of the students is to investigate the contents of physics textbooks of high school from the viewpoint of a university student and become able to explain all the contents before they graduate from university.