Re: Goldstein's Classical Mechanics.

Greg Hansen wrote:
Andy Resnick wrote:

hetware wrote:

Herbert Goldstein's _Classical Mechanics_ has long been considered "the"
standard in advanced mechanics textbooks. How does Goldstein compare to
say Syman's Mechanics? What other books fall into the same category?


Symon's book is a standard undergraduate book, while Goldstein is a standard graduate book. I confess I did not like Goldstein's book, for several reasons. I'll quote from a review that I agree with, mostly because the reviewer writes better than I:

"This book is intended as an advanced text on classical mechanics for the student whose sole desire is to learn quantum mechanics."


What else should a graduate mechanics course do? Every student will need to understand quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. And those are conceptually and technically difficult. Some students will do research on high-energy physics, some on nuclear physics, some on materials, but to a good approximation all of them will use QM or QFT in their research. Fluid mechanics and classical many-body theory are more for engineers and astronomers. There will be exceptions among physics students, but the curriculum shouldn't be redesigned for their needs. They can pick it up in the course of their research just as other students pick up cryogenics, vacuum systems, machine tools, control theory, and other things in the course of their research.

You assign a primacy to quantum mechanics that is unfounded. Yes, classical mechanics has a limited domain of applicability, but so does quantum mechanics. The "mass-point" view of classical mechanics, used as a way to bridge the correspondance between classical and quantum mechanics, is misleading and internally inconsistent.

Claiming classical mechanics is outside the domain of physics means that the overwheming amount of phenomena that we personally experience every single day is outside of physics. Why intentionally sever the link between what is learned in the classroom and experienced outside of the classroom?

Classical field theory underlies the general theory of relativity, fluid mechanics, condensed matter, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism. That is in addition to reducing to "mass-point" dynamics. Classical mechanics is the most validated and widely applicable physical theory currently in use. No other physical theory covers as many phenomena.

Why give away the hard-won results of Newton, Bernoulli, Euler, Laplace, Poincare, Cauchy, Maxwell, Lagrange, Poisson, and many others to those who do not appreciate the fundamental insights and beauty?

--
Andrew Resnick, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Case Western Reserve University
.

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