CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND RELATIVITY

This text provides a pedagogical tour through mechanics from Newton to Einstein with detailed explanations and a large number of worked examples. From the very beginning relativity is kept in mind, along with its relation to concepts of basic mechanics, such as inertia, escape velocity, Newton’s potential, Kepler motion and curvature. The Lagrange and Hamilton formalisms are treated in detail, and extensive applications to central forces and rigid bodies are presented. After consideration of the motivation of relativity, the essential tensor calculus is developed, and thereafter Einstein’s equation is solved for special cases with explicit presentation of calculational steps.