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.

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📅 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 📊 Slides	📝 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 📊 Slides
	16 Jan	Getting Started with VS Code	📓 02 - Computing is a Necessary Tool for Science 📊 Slides

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📅 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 📊 Slides
	23 Jan	Workshop day		📥 Homework 1 Due (Late after Sunday 11:59pm)

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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

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📅 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)

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📅 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)

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📅 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

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📅 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