Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction

This classical mechanics textbook clearly would never have been written were it not for the Internet. In fact, the author, Professor Emeritus Michael Cohen, says as much in his introduction. Some years ago, this educator wished to write a stand-alone textbook of a quality that could function as a supplementary “tutor” for students. His experience was that many textbooks presented topics too quickly, often due to publishers looking for massive textbooks covering all of first-year physics.

I’ve scanned some random sections of this free online physics textbook and the style of writing is much like that of a tutor who takes the time to explain concepts. I had been working on building up the physics section of the Free Textbook List and many of the books quickly left me in the dust. This one seems much more approachable.

Cohen has written the main portion of this text. Larry Gladney, Ph.D. has written the last chapter as well as many of the end of chapter problems and a solutions manual to the chapter problems.

Contents of Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction Online Textbook

1. Kinematics: The Mathematical Description of Motion
2. Newton’s First and Third Laws: Statics of Particles
3. Newton’s Second Law; Dynamics of Particles
4. Conservation and Non-Conservation of Momentum
5. Work and Energy
6. Simple Harmonic Motion
7. Static Equilibrium of Simple Rigid Bodies
8. Rotational Motion, Angular Momentum and Dynamics of Rigid Bodies
9. Remarks on Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation

This free online classical mechanics is available as a single PDF file. (Link does not go directly to the textbook.)

View this Free Online Material at the source:
 
Classical Mechanics: a Critical Introduction