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FYTB14: Exercise Sheet 2

The document is an exercise sheet for a classical mechanics course that provides 6 exercises related to Lagrangian mechanics. It includes exercises on free fall, the motion of the Earth around the Sun, an elastic pendulum, vibrations in connected springs, the motion of a carbon dioxide molecule, and a falling tree modeled as a rod. Students are instructed to use Lagrangian mechanics to find constants of motion, cyclic coordinates, equilibrium points, and solve for frequencies and constraint forces. The deadline to submit solutions is February 14th.

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72 views3 pages

FYTB14: Exercise Sheet 2

The document is an exercise sheet for a classical mechanics course that provides 6 exercises related to Lagrangian mechanics. It includes exercises on free fall, the motion of the Earth around the Sun, an elastic pendulum, vibrations in connected springs, the motion of a carbon dioxide molecule, and a falling tree modeled as a rod. Students are instructed to use Lagrangian mechanics to find constants of motion, cyclic coordinates, equilibrium points, and solve for frequencies and constraint forces. The deadline to submit solutions is February 14th.

Uploaded by

lolnation
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Classical Mechanics and Special Relativity spring term 2020

FYTB14
Exercise sheet 2
Friday, February 7th, 2020

Deadline for hand-in: Friday, February 14th, 09:00 am (CET)

Warm-up

Exercise 1: Free fall


A particle with mass m falls down towards the ground. Use horizontal coordinates x and y, and
vertical coordinate z, counted positively upwards, to describe the system.
(a) Write down the Lagrangian.
(b) Identify any cyclic coordinates.
(c) Identify the corresponding constants of motion.

Exercises

Exercise 2: Angular momentum


The earth moves in the sun’s gravitational field. (You may consider the earth to be much lighter
than the sun.)
(a) Write down the Lagrangian using the distance r and an angle φ as generalized coordinates.
(b) Identify any cyclic coordinates.
(c) Prove that angular momentum is conserved.

Exercise 3: An elastic pendulum


Write down Lagrange’s equations for the motion of an elastic pendulum: A particle of mass m hangs
in a spring with spring constant k, natural length `, and negligible mass. The spring can only be
deformed longitudinally, but it can swing like a pendulum.
(a) Write down the Lagrange equations.
(b) Find the equilibrium point.
(c) Approximate for small deviations, and find the Lagrange equations for horizontal and vertical
oscillations.

1
Exercise 4: Three identical springs
Three identical springs are connected in a row and then attached between a pair of walls. Two
identical masses are attached at the connection points between the central spring and the two others.
Determine the frequencies for horizontal longitudinal vibrations.

(It can not be assumed that the distance between the walls is such that the springs have their
natural length at equilibrium. If you use deviations from the equilibrium points as generalized vari-
ables, you must prove that what you think are the equilibrium points, are indeed the equilibrium
points.)

Exercise 5: Carbon dioxide


The carbon dioxide molecule can be considered a linear molecule with a central carbon atom, bound
to two oxygen atoms with a pair of identical springs in opposing directions. Study the longitudinal
motion of the molecule. If three coordinates are used, one of the normal mode frequencies vanishes.
What does that represent physically? Calculate a numerical value for the ratio between the two
other (non-zero) normal mode frequencies of the molecule. (The exercise should be solved using
Lagrangian mechanics.)

Hand-in Exercise

Exercise 6: Falling tree


Consider a tree which is anchored to the ground at the origin. You can approximate the tree as a rod
of constant mass density. Imagine the tree is falling toward the ground in the gravitational potential,
as shown in the figure. Measure the angular coordinate as defined by the figure.
(a) Find the Lagrangian in terms of x, y, φ. Hint: Assume that
the Lagrangian only depends on φ̇ through a term proportional to
the moment of inertia of the center-of-mass, Icm .
(b) Find the constraints relating the coordinates x and φ, and y
and φ. Hint: Think about where on the rod the center-of-mass is
located.
l)
th

(c) Write down the modified Euler-Lagrange equations (for x, y, φ)


ng

y φ
(le

in the presence of the two constraints, for two Lagrange multipli-


ee
Tr

CM
ers λ1 and λ2 .
(d) Find the Lagrange multipliers λ1 and λ2 and the constraint
forces Fconstr,x and Fconstr,y . Hints: Use the constraint equations
to replace ẍ, ÿ. Reorganize the EL eqn. for φ̇ into a total time
derivative form to be able to replace φ̇ at intermediate steps.
x
(e) Visualize the constraint forces Fconstr,x and Fconstr,y as a func-
tion of φ.

2
Answers:

1 (a)
1
L = Ek − Ep = m(ẋ2 + ẏ 2 + ż 2 ) − mgz (1)
2
(b) x and y are cyclic
(c) px = mẋ and py = mẏ are constants of motion

2 (a)
1 Ms me
L = Ek − Ep = me (r2 φ̇2 + ṙ2 ) + G (2)
2 r
(b) φ is cyclic
(c)
∂L ∂L
=0 ⇒ const = = me r2 φ̇, (3)
∂φ ∂ φ̇
Here me r is multiplying the component of v̄ which is orthogonal to r̄, rφ̇, so this is the angular
momentum.

3 Vertical oscillations: ωv2 = k/m, horizontal: ωh2 = k/(m + kl/g) = g/(l + gm/k)

4 (k/m)1/2 , and (3k/m)1/2


q
2mo +mc
5 mc
, numerically 1.915 (or the inverse of this)

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