Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 17 views

    SPA5304 Physical Dynamics Homework 3: (20 Marks)

    Uploaded by

    Roy Vesey
    This document provides 3 homework problems related to physical dynamics: 1. Problem 1 has 4 parts asking about Hamilton's principle of least action, the Lagrangian of a particle in 1D motion, rigid bodies, and why internal forces do no work. 2. Problem 2 describes 2 masses connected by a spring on Mount Doom and has 4 parts about degrees of freedom, writing the Lagrangian, Euler-Lagrange equations, and equilibriums. 3. Problem 3 involves revolving a curve around an axis to create a surface, derives an expression for the surface area using integrals, the Euler-Lagrange equation to extremize the area, and solves the resulting equation to find the curve.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    SPA5304 Physical Dynamics Homework 3: (20 Marks)

    Uploaded by

    Roy Vesey
    17 views2 pages
    This document provides 3 homework problems related to physical dynamics: 1. Problem 1 has 4 parts asking about Hamilton's principle of least action, the Lagrangian of a particle in 1D motion, rigid bodies, and why internal forces do no work. 2. Problem 2 describes 2 masses connected by a spring on Mount Doom and has 4 parts about degrees of freedom, writing the Lagrangian, Euler-Lagrange equations, and equilibriums. 3. Problem 3 involves revolving a curve around an axis to create a surface, derives an expression for the surface area using integrals, the Euler-Lagrange equation to extremize the area, and solves the resulting equation to find the curve.

    Original Description:

    PhD Physical Dynamics - Homework 3 (QMUL)

    Original Title

    PhD Homework03

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    This document provides 3 homework problems related to physical dynamics: 1. Problem 1 has 4 parts asking about Hamilton's principle of least action, the Lagrangian of a particle in 1D motion, rigid bodies, and why internal forces do no work. 2. Problem 2 describes 2 masses connected by a spring on Mount Doom and has 4 parts about degrees of freedom, writing the Lagrangian, Euler-Lagrange equations, and equilibriums. 3. Problem 3 involves revolving a curve around an axis to create a surface, derives an expression for the surface area using integrals, the Euler-Lagrange equation to extremize the area, and solves the resulting equation to find the curve.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    17 views2 pages

    SPA5304 Physical Dynamics Homework 3: (20 Marks)

    Uploaded by

    Roy Vesey
    This document provides 3 homework problems related to physical dynamics: 1. Problem 1 has 4 parts asking about Hamilton's principle of least action, the Lagrangian of a particle in 1D motion, rigid bodies, and why internal forces do no work. 2. Problem 2 describes 2 masses connected by a spring on Mount Doom and has 4 parts about degrees of freedom, writing the Lagrangian, Euler-Lagrange equations, and equilibriums. 3. Problem 3 involves revolving a curve around an axis to create a surface, derives an expression for the surface area using integrals, the Euler-Lagrange equation to extremize the area, and solves the resulting equation to find the curve.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    SPA5304 Physical Dynamics Homework 3

    Due on Friday 1st February 2019 at 16:00

    Only one of the problems will be marked, so please solve all three.

    Problem 1 (Part A-type questions) [20 marks]

    (i) State what is meant by Hamilton’s principle of least action. [5]

    (ii) Consider the system of a single particle of mass m moving in one dimension parameterised by the
    coordinate x. The particle is subject to a conservative force whose potential is V (x). Write down the
    Lagrangian of this system. [5]

    (iii) Explain what a rigid body is, in the context of dynamics. [5]

    (iv) Explain why in a rigid body the internal forces do not do any work. [5]

    Figure 1: Figure for Problem 2.

    Problem 2 [20 marks]


    Frodo and Sam are stuck on top of Mount Doom. Their masses are m1 and m2 , respectively. Frodo is
    constrained to move along the segment AB whereas Sam is constrained to move along the segment AC. The
    three points A, B, C lie on the (x, y) plane and have coordinates

    A ≡ (0, 1), B ≡ (−1, 0), C ≡ (1, 0).

    The two friends are connected by an elastic Elvish rope of elastic constant k, so that the corresponding
    elastic potential has the form
    1
    Vrope = kd2
    2
    where d is the (varying) distance between the two hobbits. Gravity acts, as usual, along the vertical direction.
    See the figure for a depiction of the system.

    1
    (i) How many degrees of freedom does the system have? Indicate at least two different sets of generalised
    coordinates one could choose in order to describe the motion of the system. [3]

    (ii) Write down the Lagrangian of the system. [7]

    (iii) Write down the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations. [7]

    (iv) Find the equilibrium positions of the system. [3]

    Note: The general procedure for solving problems with constraints:

    1. Find adequate generalised coordinates {qj }nj=1 to describe the motion of the system. The number of
    these coordinates, n, is the number of degrees of freedom of the system. One can collect them in an
    n-dimensional vector, denoted by q.
    PN
    2. Re-express the kinetic energy T := i=1 mi ṙ2i /2 in terms of the generalised coordinates and momenta
    q and q̇ (here N is the number of particles in the system).

    3. Write the Lagrangian L(q, q̇) = T (q, q̇) − V (q). There will be one Euler-Lagrange equation for each
    generalised coordinate qj . Thus there are as many Euler-Lagrange equations as degrees of freedom.
    These equations are
    d ∂L ∂L
    = .
    dt ∂ q̇ ∂q

    Problem 3 [20 marks]


    Take a curve C on the x-y plane that connects two points P1 and P2 . Now consider a surface S which is
    obtained by revolving C around the x-axis. See the figure below for illustration:

    (i) Let the curve C be given by y = y(x), and let the (x, y) coordinates of P1 and P2 be (x1 , y1 ) and
    (x2 , y2 ), respectively. Write down the expression for the area of S using an x integral. [7]

    (ii) Write down the Euler-Lagrange equation satisfied by y(x) for S to take an extremal value. [8]

    (iii) The equation obtained in (ii) is equivalent to


     
    d y
    p = 0.
    dx 1 + ẏ 2
    Solve this equation and find the curve. [5]

    You might also like