In this course students take a classical yet active approach to the physical sciences. Classical physics deals with physical phenomena that occur at a “macroscopic”,  “non-relativistic” level. As such it provides a particularly useful framework to describe phenomena that are visible in everyday life, with applications in engineering, astronomy, biomedical, earth and environmental sciences. Students advance their analytic skills in applying classical mechanics, from a geometric and dynamic perspective as well as using conservation laws of energy, momentum and angular momentum. Moreover, they learn how classical considerations on small scales allow us to draw conclusions on large-scale behavior of systems, either thermodynamic or as a continuum body.

Format
The course consists of lectures, problem solving and presenting and writing an essay. Class hours include lectures introducing, explaining and illustrating the theory. Moreover, students are expected to discuss their solutions to set exercises. Outside the four class hours a week, students are expected to study ten hours a week on average, reading the relevant sections of the textbook and lecture notes, solving exercises for class presentations or hand-in assignments and writing an essay.