Faculty of Science

Objectives

To give an understanding of reference frames, special relativity, Central forces and rotation in space.

Contents

Reference frame: Inertial and accelerated reference frames, Absolute and relative velocity, Speed of light in inertial frames in relative motion; Introduction to Relativity: Basic concepts of Lorentz ‘s transformations length contraction, time dilation, velocity transformation, Conservation of momentum, Centre of mass frame, Mass and energy, Magnetism and relativistic phenomena, Four- vectors, Rutherford scattering; Rotation in space: Angular momentum of a particle, Angular momentum of a system of particles, Conservation of angular momentum, Translation and rotation, Motion of a gyroscope; Rotations of a rigid body about a fixed axis: Angular velocity and angular acceleration; Torque and moment of inertia, Rotation about fixed axis, Angular momentum and rotational kinetic energy.

Prerequisite: