At the end of the course, students are expected to have solid basic knowledge of Newtonian mechanics of systems and rigid bodies, of classical thermodynamics and its microscopic interpretation through elementary notions of statistical mechanics and kinetic theory of gases, and some basic notions of fluid dynamics and deformable bodies. Students are expected to be able to apply general concepts to problem solving.
Course Prerequisites
Point-particle mechanics, differential calculus of one real variable.
Teaching Methods
Lectures, including both theory and applications and exercises. Tutoring sessions with examples.
Assessment Methods
Mandatory written exam based on problem-solving. Optional oral exam at the student's discretion if a minimum grade of 18 has been achieved in the written exam. The oral exam grade can either improve or worsen the written exam grade. If you do not wish to take the oral exam, you can keep the written exam grade.
Contents
Mechanics: Mechanics of rigid bodies. Rotations. The angular momentum vector. Conservation of angular momentum. The inertia tensor. Diagonalisation of the inertia tensor, principal axes and eigenvalues. Euler's equations for rigid bodies. The spinning top. Non-inertial reference systems. Motion of a spinning top. Introduction to analytical mechanics: the principle of least action. Thermodynamics: Thermodynamic systems. The first and second laws of thermodynamics. Ideal gases. Work and heat. The entropy. Carnot cycle. Empirical and absolute temperature scales (Kelvin scale). Thermodynamic potentials. Introduction to statistical mechanics and kinetic theory of gases. Microscopic interpretation of the laws of thermodynamics. Fluid dynamics: Fluid statics. Stevino's law, Archimedes' principle. Fluid dynamics: continuity and Euler equations, material derivative. Bernoulli's theorem. Introduction to elasticity theory. Deformable bodies. Stress tensor
Course Language
Italian
More information
For any questions or concern please contact: mattiacarlo.sormani@uninsubria.it
