History of Mechanics.
Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Forces.
Kinematics vs. Dynamics.
Motion in One Dimension.
Phase Space Description of Mechanical Systems.
Symmetry Properties of Newton’s Equation.
Two-Dimensional Motion; Central Force Problem.
Three-Dimensional Mtion.
Motion in a Nninertial Reference Frame.
Energy.
Conservation of Linear Momentum and Centre of Mass.
Collisions.
Simple Harmonic Motion.
Nonlinear Oscillations and Chaos.
Waves: Oscillations in Continuous Media.
Angular Momentum.
Rigid Body Dynamics.
Special Theory of Relativity: Kinematics.
Relativistic Dynamics. Epilogue.
Appendix A: Present Paradigm of Physics and Science.
Appendix B: Dimensional Analysis and Estimation.
Appendix C: Numerical Solution of Differential Equations.
Appendix D: Matlab and Octave.
Appendix E: Vectors and Tensors.
Appendix F: Vector Operations on Vector and Scalar Fields.
Appendix G: Important Astronomical Data.
Appendix H: Important Physical Constants.
References.
Index.
Biography
Dr Mahendra Verma is of the Indian Institute of Technology, India.
… as an introduction to the subject, undergraduates at all levels of study could benefit from leafing through its pages. Indeed I suspect many graduate students and even professors could gain fresh insight into concepts and problems. I certainly did, and have benefitted in my own teaching by reviewing this book. … Verma’s work covers a broad range of subject matter, managing to go into quite some depth in some areas … That it manages to do this without seeming crammed or cluttered says much about the excellent setting out and organisation of the sections. … it is probably the range of this book that sets it apart from others. As well as all the standard mechanics topics that could and should be encountered in such a volume, Verma manages to include fascinating and detailed analysis of phase space, tensors, special relativity, non-linear dynamics and solutions of differential equations (not to mention interludes on scientific history) all without loss of detail and this is highly commendable. There is even a short appendix on the use of MATLAB … this mechanics textbook will be of use to physicists at all stages of their development, from undergraduate right through to professorial level. I will indeed be recommending it to my students … .
—Vijay Tymms, Reviews, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2010
