MEAM 535 Advanced Dynamics

Fall 1999

Summary of Week #1

1. Course policies
2. History of dynamics from Aristotle to Einstein and beyond, focusing on how the main concepts of dynamics evolved.
3. What we will cover in this course:
   • Two-lecture review of Newtonian particle dynamics
   • Ananlytical dynamics
   • Rigid body kinematics and dynamics
   • Computational dynamics
   • More topics on analytical dynamics
   • Variational calculus and dynamics of elastic continua
   • Two lectures on chaotic dynamics
   • Two lectures on special relativity
4. Definitions of...
   • Mechanics, kinematics and kinetics
   • Rigid bodies and deformable bodies
   • Degrees of freedom
5. Position vectors, velocity, and acceleration in Cartesian coordinate system. Taking derivatives of a vector with respect to a scalar in an indertial coordinate system.
6. A simple problem: a bead moving along a parabola (y=x^2) in a plane at constant speed, V. Find its velocity and acceleration in the Cartesian coordinate systems.