science education information book reviewsClassical Dynamicsof particles and systems
Marion, Thornton
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Classical Dynamics is a key-element of any education in undergraduate science. Many advanced theories in physics are based on classical dynamics, especially on Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics. Much of modern science education is pointed at quantum mechanics and, if anything, the undergraduate education in science aims to prepare the student for quantum mechanics. Indeed, that's what the authors of Classical Dynamics had in mind while write their text, as they mention in the preface. To say that Classical Dynamics fully prepares the student for quantum mechanics is an exaggeration, though. It does prepare the student for a more advanced mechanics education, such as Goldstein's Classical Mechanics. That book puts the emphasis on the Lagrangian/Hamiltonian picture, while Classical Dynamics only gives an introduction. Indeed, in Classical Dynamics topics like oscillations and gravitation are treated within the Newtonian framework, while Goldstein does it the Lagrangian/Hamiltonian way. It's the Lagrangian/Hamiltonian picture especially that is needed in quantum mechanics.
This book can be read right after introductory mechanics education such as A.P. French's Newtonian Mechanics. It can be described as an intermediate undergraduate text with only three of the last four chapters (rigid bodies, coupled oscillations, continuous systems) being at the advanced undergraduate level.
If one does indeed recognize that Classical Dynamics has to be followed up by a more advanced education that has more to say about Lagrangian/Hamiltonian mechanics, then Classical Dynamics is a very fine book at it's level. For an American text it's remarkably down to Earth and practical, never dwelling too long on philosophical issues or going all too deep, but instead giving the student the amount of detail and algebra that is much needed later on. The book is soberly written and evenly paced, not exciting or particularly insightful, but always to th point. Typical of this approach is the excellent chapter on special relativity, that is the best in it's kind in the sense that it simply states what we know to be correct about special relativity, without quasi-intuitive pictorial methods, such as space-time diagrams, which can easily lead to misconceptions (see relativity education and spacetime diagrams). It's interesting to note that the only spacetime-diagram Marion and Thornton employ is the light cone.
The authors intend "to acquaint the student with new mathematical techniques wherever possible", but there they are only partially successful. Their mathematics is very comprehensible but typical of physicists that do mathematics. Physicist/author Walter Greiner, for one, is able to put on a genuine mathematics hat, meaning that his style of explaining mathematics differs little from that of a (pedagogically clever) pure mathematician, while with most physics authors the mathematics tends to go under in the physics. That is, they approach mathematics with the same simplifying directness as they do with physics, while mathematics requires a special style and elegance to be successful, pedagogically or otherwise. So for the mathematics Greiner's mechanics texts are preferred and recommended, but Marion and Thornton's style of writing is more fluent and somewhat more entertaining. Moreover, they are very good at judging which physical concept needs more elaboration and are concise whenever possible.
Some people regards Classical Dynamics as an ancient text because the subject isn't approached geometrically, that is, in terms of Clifford algebra. Whether or not any subject should be taught in such abstract terms as Clifford algebra, at the intermediate level, remains to be seen, though.
Summarizing: Classical Dynamics is a well written, well balanced must-read text at the intermediate undergraduate level. Not overly inspiring, but all the more useful.
Contents
1 Matrices, vectors and vector calculus
2 Newtonian mechanics - single particle
4 Nonlinear oscillations and chaos
6 Some methods in the calculus of variations
7 Hamilton's principle - Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics
9 Dynamics of a system of particles
10 Motion in a noninertial reference frame
11 Dynamics of rigid bodies
13 Continuous systems; waves
14 The special theory of relativity
Appendices
C Ordinary differential equations of second order
F Differential equations in different coordinate systems
G A "Proof" of the relation "sigma" x² = "sigma" x'²
H Numerical solution for example 2.7
Answers to even-numbered problems
Classical Dynamics - of particles and systems, 4th edition
Marion - Thornton
Saunders College Publishing
ISBN 0-03-097302-3
584 pages + appendices and index (638 pages)
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