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
CW35	25 Aug (Slides)	Introduction to the course; reminders about vectors; software setup	📓 01 - Overture: What is Classical Physics? 📚 MLB Ch 3.4	📝 Homework 1 Assigned (Due 5 Sep)
	27 Aug (Slides)	Newton’s 1st and 2nd Law; Motion in 1 dimension	📚 JRT 1.1-1.4; AMS Ch 1-4
	29 Aug (Slides)	Getting Started with VS Code; Using AI in this Class	📓 02 - Computing is a Necessary Tool for Science

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📅 Class Week 2

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW36	1 Sep	Labor Day (No Class)		📝 Homework 2 Assigned (Due 12 Sep)
	3 Sep (Slides)	Newton’s Laws; Motion in 2 and 3 dimensions	📚 JRT 1.4-1.6; AMS Ch 4.2 and 5
	5 Sep (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 1 Due

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📅 Class Week 3

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW37	8 Sep (Slides)	Modeling and equations of motion	📓 03 - What is Mathematical Modeling? 📚 JRT 1.4-1.6	📝 Homework 3 Assigned (Due 19 Sep)
	10 Sep (Slides)	Air Resistance
	12 Sep (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 2 Due

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📅 Class Week 4

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW38	15 Sep (Slides)	Air Resistance; Central Forces	📓 04 - Why does fluid drag complicate things? 📚 JRT 2.1-2.4	📝 Homework 4 Assigned (Due 26 Sep)
	17 Sep (Slides)	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
	19 Sep (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 3 Due

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📅 Class Week 5

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW39	22 Sep (Slides)	Work Energy Theorem	📓 05 - Conservation Laws Govern and Constrain our Physics 📚 JRT 4.1-4.3
	24 Sep (Slides)	Conservative Forces and Potential	📚 JRT 4.1-4.4, 4.6
	26 Sep (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 4 Due

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📅 Class Week 6

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW40	29 Sep (Slides)	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 10 Oct)
	1 Oct (Slides)	Conservation of Momentum and Angular Momentum	📓 05 - Conservation Laws Govern and Constrain our Physics 📚 JRT 3.1, 3.3-3.4
	3 Oct (Slides)	Workshop day

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📅 Class Week 7

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW41	6 Oct (Slides)	Nonlinear dynamics, phase portraits	📓 07 - Introducing Nonlinear Dynamics 📚 Strogatz, Nonlinear Dynamics 2.0-2.3; 5.0-5.2	📝 Homework 5 Assigned (Due 17 Oct)
	8 Oct (Slides)	Phase portraits, numerical modeling	PDFs posted are consistent with educational fair use; will be removed after course has concluded
	10 Oct (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Midterm Project 1 Due

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📅 Class Week 8

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW42	13 Oct (Slides)	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 24 Oct)
	15 Oct (Slides)	Oscillations; Damping
	17 Oct (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 5 Due

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📅 Class Week 9

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW43	20 Oct	No Class - Fall Break		📝 Homework 7 Assigned (Due 31 Oct)
	22 Oct (Slides)	Driven Oscillations; Resonance	📓 09 - Driving Oscillators and Resonance Phenomenon 📚 JRT 5.5-5.6; MLB 8.6
	24 Oct (Slides)	Driven Oscillations; Resonance		📥 Homework 6 Due

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📅 Class Week 10

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW44	27 Oct (Slides)	Introduction to Chaos	📓 10 - Investigating Systems that Exhibit Chaotic Dynamics
	29 Oct (Slides)	Hallmarks of Classical Chaos Series
	31 Oct (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 7 Due

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📅 Class Week 11

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW45	03 Nov (Slides)	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 14 Nov)
	05 Nov (Slides)	Euler-Lagrange Equation Examples
	07 Nov (Slides)	Workshop day

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📅 Class Week 12

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW46	10 Nov (Slides)	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 21 Nov)
	12 Nov (Slides)	Lagrangian Dynamics Examples Session
	14 Nov (Slides	Workshop Day		📥 Midterm Project 2 Due

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📅 Class Week 13

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW47	17 Nov (Slides)	Lagrangian Dynamics Examples	📓 13 - Applying the Lagrangian Formulation 📚 JRT 7.3-7.7, 7.10	📝 Final Project Assigned Presentations (01-05 Dec) Computational Essay (08 Dec)
	19 Nov (Slides)	Lagrangian Dynamics with Constraints
	21 Nov (Slides)	Workshop day		📥 Homework 8 Due

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📅 Class Week 14

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW48	24 Nov (Slides)	Final Project Prep		📝 Final Project Assigned Presentations (01-05 Dec) Computational Essay (08 Dec)
	26 Nov (Slides)	Final Project Prep
	28 Nov	No Class - University Closed

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📅 Class Week 15

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW49	01 Dec (Slides)	Final Project Presentations	Accepted only during class time https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/DF9MdrBJhf	👀 Must review at least 2 presentations daily
	03 Dec (Slides)	Final Project Presentations		👀 Must review at least 2 presentations
	05 Dec (Slides)	Final Project Presentations		👀 Must review at least 2 presentations

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📅 Class Week 16

Week	Day	Topic	Readings to Prepare	Important Events
CW50	08 Dec	FINALS WEEK		🎉 Final Project Due Turn in single zip file on D2L
	10 Dec	FINALS WEEK
	12 Dec	FINALS WEEK