Foundations of Classical Mechanics

Written in easily accessible language, the book provides a modern perspective of classical mechanics. Mathematical rigour is intertwined with lucid narration that will generate confidence in students to assimilate and apply fundamental principles of physics. The commonalities and differences of Newton's, Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations are explained in detail. Free, damped, driven oscillators and resonances are analysed systematically. The text extensively covers concepts of fluid mechanics, special theory of relativity, general theory of relativity and Lorentz transformations. The theories of gravitational field, fractals and chaos, Maxwell's laws of electrodynamics, and Einstein's theory of relativity are expanded from the first principle. The text is supported by practice problem sets to help students check their understanding of the concepts.

List of figures; List of tables; Foreword; Preface; Introduction; 1. Laws of mechanics and symmetry principles; 2. Mathematical preliminaries; 3. Real effects of pseudo-forces: description of motion in accelerated frame of reference; 4. Small oscillations and wave motion; 5. Damped and driven oscillations; Resonances; 6. The variational principle; 7. Angular momentum and rigid body dynamics; 8. The gravitational interaction in Newtonian mechanics; 9. Complex behavior of simple system; 10. Gradient operator, methods of fluid mechanics, and electrodynamics; 11. Rudiments of fluid mechanics; 12. Basic principles of electrodynamics; 13. Introduction to special theory of relativity; 14. A glimpse of the general theory of relativity; Index.

P. C. Deshmukh is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati, India. He has taught courses on classical mechanics, atomic and molecular physics, quantum mechanics, solid state theory, foundations of theoretical physics and theory of atomic collision at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has published more than 100 papers in international journals. His current research includes photoabsoption processes in free/confined atoms, molecules and ions.