Theoretical Mechanics (IPSP)

Wiki with Exercises, Notes, Hints, and a Feedback-Forum
Jürgen Vollmer, Uni Leipzig, WiSe2023/24

We will come to know different approaches to determine the equations of motion of mechanical systems, and to discuss the features of the solutions of these equations.

The main ideas will be presented in lectures. However, your most important duty will be to work through a set of questions every week and to discuss your solutions with your peers:

• brainstorming with your peers prior to submission
• clarify open issues with the tutors in the open physics room
• present your solution in the seminars

The times for the classes have not yet been confirmed. Last year we had:

In the Seminars we meet with a small number of participants to present and discuss the homework exercises. Exercising your skills in presenting models and results of calculations is one of the key competences of physicists. It is important that you prepare carefully for the seminars, and embrace the opportunity to learn this early on in your studies.

Times and locations of the seminars.

In the Open Physics Room peers help to cope with understanding the lectures, and provide help in dealing with homework exercises.

This year Tom will be available to answer questions and provide help with the homework as follows:

Except that next week, Oct 29, the Tuesday session will be from 3 – 5 pm, and Thursday there is no session since it is a bank holiday.

Each week there will be a set of homework exercises. For each problem there will be a discussion page, and after the submission deadline I will publish the solutions to selected problems. On request I also offer suggestions for further study.

The deadline for homework submission will be Wednesday: 10:30

The exercise sheets will be submitted on the Moodle pages of this course. Registration in Moodle will be connected to the enrollment in the course in AlmaWeb.

The exams will be conducted on

• Friday, 21 February 2023 — 1pm – 4pm
• in Physics building, Linnéstraße, Großer Hörsaal 205

These are 3 hour exams. Please take into account that

• you will be asked to arrive somewhat earlier for the setup of the exam and registration,
• we will not be done at 4pm sharp since we need time to collect the exams,
• we will have a Stammtisch after the exam where we can discuss how it worked out.

The requirement for participation is that you have earned a TP1 exam admission in a previous year, or that you have reached a score of at least 50% in the exercises.

If you score at least 50% of the points on your exercise sheets you will right away be admitted to the exam. You can double the points scored in an exercise by presenting your solution in your seminar.

More information about successfully running the course is available on a separate page.

In my lecture notes I provide

• an exposition of the topics covered in the lectures,
• material for follow-up course work,
• material for further reading.

Further details are available at the Lecture Notes Overview page.

This year the TP1 team comprises the following members

• check out first if there is an appropriate discussion field in the wiki to post that problem
• post a question in the wiki
• visit the OPR to discuss your problem with Aziz
• contact me in/after the lecture if the issue persists

• check the solution in the wiki
• post a question in the wiki if you do not understand the solution
• visit the OPR to discuss your problem with Aziz
• contact me in/after the lecture if the issue persists

* send a request to Johannes Ewald — the speaker of the correction team ==== Open Physics Room for Retakes ==== For the preparation of retakes the open physics room will be opened again. There will be first meeting to discuss your problems and needs * this week Thursday, 9 March 2023, at 15:00 * in the OPR Subsequent meetings will be discussed and arranged during that meeting. The room will be conducted by | Sara Tariq | sara.tariq@studserv.uni-leipzig.de | Please contact her by email to express your needs.

For selected problems I set up a Sage playground, where you can explore the solutions to a range of problems in theoretical mechanics based on interactive Sage templates.

We will migrate from Sage to Julia in the course of the term. Please let me know when you are interested to join this enterprise.

• extension of the wiki and requests for help
• tips and tricks concerning issues with university emails, moodle, almaweb, this wiki, etc
• general discussion, feedback, and information about you
• summer schools and camps that you might find of interest

There are discussion forms on all pages. Viable suggestions and solutions will be promoted from the discussion to Howtos in the main part of the pages. Regular contributors will earn the right to directly edit the pages, and they will get extra credit for the exam amission.

— Jürgen Vollmer 2024/10/16