Introduction to Mechanics

Contents: 1. History of mechanics. 2. Newton’s laws of motion. 3. Forces. 4. Kinematics vs dynamics. 5. Motion in one dimension. 6. Numerical solution of Newton’s equations. 7. Phase space description of mechanical systems. 8. Symmetry properties of Newton’s equation. 9. Two-dimensional motion; central force problem. 10. Three-dimensional motion. 11. Energy. 12. Motion in a noninertial reference frame. 13. Conservation of linear momentum and centre of mass. 14. Collisions. 15. Rotation dynamics: definitions. 16. Rigid body dynamics. 17. Nonlinear dynamics and chaos. 18. Statics. 19. Mechanics of solids. 20. Mechanics of fluids. 21. Special theory of relativity: kinematics. 22. Relativistic dynamics. Epilogue. Appendices. Index.

Introduction to Mechanics, Second Edition offers a modern introduction to Newtonian dynamics and the basics of special relativity. The present edition covers almost all the topics specified in the mechanics syllabus of most Indian universities. It preserves the emphasis laid on the fundamental principles of mechanics and introduction of modern topics (as in the earlier edition), such as symmetries, nonlinear dynamics and presentation of Newton's laws as a differential equation. The programming language Python is used to solve a large number of differential equations numerically and for many plots.