Classical Mechanics - problem set 2 - due Sept 29

Fall 2010
Problem 1
z

g
r
(10 pts.) A bead of mass m is free to slide along a wire given in cylindrical
coordinates (r, , z) by z = f(r), where f(r) r

. The wire is rotating with angular

velocity =

, gravity g is down.
(a) Write the Lagrangian of this system and derive equations of motion.
(b) From these equations nd the equilibrium position(s) of the bead, r
0
, check your
result by considering the free body diagram. Consider cases = 0, 1, 2, 3; for
which s nite r
0
s are possible?
(c) Expand the Lagrangian up to second order in deviations from the equilibrium
positions, and from resulting equations of motion determine the stability of all
the equilibria for f(r) = ar and f(r) = ar
3
(a is a constant). If the equilibrium
is stable what is the frequency of oscillations about it.
Problem 2
(10 pts. - FW 3.8) A point mass m slides without friction inside a surface of revolution z = sin(r/R) whose
symmetry axis lies along the direction of the uniform gravitational eld g. Consider 0 < r/R < /2.
(a) Construct the Lagrangian L(r, ; r,

) and compute the equations of motion for the generalized coordinates r, .
(b) Are there stationary horizontal circular orbits?
(c) Which of these orbits are stable under small impulses along the surface transverse to the direction of motion?
(d) If the orbit is stable, what is the frequency of oscillation about the equilibrium orbit?
Problem 3

I
m
?
g
R
(10 pts.) A point mass m is sitting on top of freely rotating cylinder. The friction
coecient between the particle and the cylinder is . The system rst starts rotating
as a whole, and at some point the particle will either y o the surface of the cylinder
or it will start to slide along the circumference of the cylinder. Find angles when each
of these two motions begin (use Lagrange multipliers), and plot them as a function
of = I/mR
2
, where I is the moment of inertia of the cylinder and R is its radius.
(Find explicit dependence of the angles on for small and large s.) The kinetic
energy of the rotating cylinder is I

2
/2. Which of the two relative motions occurs
rst? Will the solution for the angle when the second motion starts still be valid
after rst motion occured?
Problem 4
M
0
g
l

(10 pts. - FW 3.18) A uniform ladder of length and mass M has one end on a smooth
horizontal oor and the other end against a smooth vertical wall. The ladder is initially
at rest and makes angle
0
with the horizontal. Make a convenient choice of generalized
coordinates and nd the lagrangian. Derive the corresponding equations of motion. Prove
that the ladder leaves the wall when its upper end has fallen to a height
2
3
sin
0
. Show
how the subsequent motion can be reduced to explicit integrals. Does the ladder ever lose
contact with the oor?
2
Answer of Problem 1
The Lagrangian in cylindrical coordinates
L =
m
2
( r
2
+ r
2

2
+ f

(r)
2
r
2
) mgf(r)
where f

(r) = df(r)/dr and

= . Equation of motion for the only coordinate r is,
d
dt
_
(1 + f

(r)
2
) r
_
= r
2
+ f

(r)f

(r) r
2
gf

(r)
The equilibrium position ( r = r = 0) is given by r
0

2
= gf

(r
0
) . In a free body diagram the gravity is balanced by
mg = N cos , centrifugal force balanced by mr
0

2
= N sin and tan = f

(r
0
) is the tangent to the curve at r
0
,
giving the same result after elimination of reaction force N. For r
0
we have
= 0 f(r) = a = const r
0
= 0
= 1 f(r) = ar r
0
= ag/
2
= 2 f(r) = ar
2
r
0
= 0 always and any r
0
if 2ag =
2
= 3 f(r) = ar
3
r
0
= 0 and r
0
=
2
/3ag
Deviations from the equilibrium: r = r
0
+r and the Lagrangian expansion up to O(r)
2
gives,
L =
m
2
(

r
2
+ 2r
0
r
2
+
2
r
2
+ f

(r
0
)
2

r
2
) mgf

(r
0
)r mg
1
2
f

(r
0
)r
2
where constant terms have been dropped. The equation of motion for r is
[1 + f

(r
0
)
2
]

r = [r
0

2
gf

(r
0
)] + [
2
gf

(r
0
)]r
In equilibrium r
0

2
gf

(r
0
) = 0 and we have

r +
2
r = 0
2
=
gf

(r
0
)
2
1 + f

(r
0
)
2
=
g
r
0
r
0
f

(r
0
) f

(r
0
)
1 + f

(r
0
)
2
( 2)
For < 2 the f

(r) = 0 and
2
is negative - unstable equilibrium, = 2 r
0
= 0 solution is ether unstable (if
2ga <
2
) or stable (if 2ga >
2
). for > 2 - unstable r
0
= 0 solution and stable oscillations with corresponding
around r
0
= 0.
Answer of Problem 2
The Lagrangian in cylindrical coordinates
L =
m
2
_
r
2
+ r
2

2
+
_

R
cos
r
R
_
2
r
2
_
mg sin
r
R
Equations of motion (no need to take full t-derivative just yet):
m
d
dt
_
r +
_

R
cos
r
R
_
2
r
_
= mr

2
+
m
2
r
2

r
_

R
cos
r
R
_
2
mg

R
cos
r
R
m
d
dt
(r
2

) = 0
Stationary horizontal orbit would have r = r
0
= const which means from the second equation

=
0
= const as well.
From the rst equation we nd relation between the frequency and the radius for stationary orbits:

2
0
=
g
r
0
R
cos
r
0
R
3
- stationary orbit with the corresponding
2
0
(r
0
) exist for any r
0
. To determine stability of orbits in transverse direction
(i.e. transverse to ), we need to linearize our equations with respect to r(t) = r(t) r
0
. Note that according to
the second equation r
2
is a constant of motion (time independent) and changing r causes change in =

which
appears in equation 1. We can either linearize with respect to two variables, r = r r
0
and =
0
, or use
second equation to express

in terms of r and then use it in the rst equation - and linearize with respect to r only.
We will go the last route. We have:
r
2
= const = r
2
0

0
=

=
0
r
2
0
r
2
and thus
m
d
dt
_
r +
_

R
cos
r
R
_
2
r
_
= m
2
0
r
4
0
r
3
+
m
2
r
2

r
_

R
cos
r
R
_
2
mg

R
cos
r
R
Keeping only linear terms with respect to r we have
_
1 +
_

R
cos
r
0
R
_
2
_

r = 3
2
0
r + g

R
2
sin
r
0
R
r
which we write as

r +
2
r = 0 with
2
=
3
2
0

g
R
2
sin
r0
R
1 +
_

R
cos
r0
R

2
Oscillation around r
0
will be stable if its frequency
2
> 0, i.e.
3
2
0
>
g
R
2
sin
r
0
R
3
g
r
0
R
cos
r
0
R
>
g
R
2
sin
r
0
R
tan
r
0
R
<
3R
r
0

r
0
R
1.19
Answer of Problem 3
The Lagrangian that describes unconstrained motion of the cylinder and the point mass is
L =
I

2
1
2
+
m
2
_
r
2
+ r
2

2
2
_
mgr cos
2
For holonomic constraints (r = R and
1
=
2
) we introduce two Lagrange multipliers and will have an eective
Lagrangian,
L

=
I

2
1
2
+
m
2
_
r
2
+ r
2

2
2
_
mgr cos
2
+
1
(t)(r R) +
2
(t)(
1

2
)
We will have equations of motion for three generalized coordinates (
1
, r,
2
) and two constraints,
I

1
=
2
m r = mr

2
2
mg cos
2
+
1
m
d
dt
(r
2

2
) = mgr sin
2

2
r = R

1
=
2
We can see that the
1
(t) multiplier describes the reaction force in r-direction, while
2
(t) multiplier gives the torque
from m to rotate the cylinder, this torque is due to the friction force between the mass m and the cylinder. The point
mass will move in r-direction when
1
= 0, or it will slide along the cylinder if the friction force becomes greater
than friction of sliding,
2
/R >
1
. Obviously, since for ying we need
1
= 0, the second condition can always
be satised (slightly) before reaction force
1
becomes zero if we have nite
2
- so sliding will happen rst. Lets
4
show it mathematically and nd critical angles when either m will y o (
f
) or it will begin to slide (
s
). For this
use constraints in rst 3 equations to nd Lagranges multipliers (reactive forces) as a function of the rotation angle
=
1
=
2
,
I

=
2
(t)
0 = mR

2
mg cos +
1
(t)
mR
2

= mgRsin
2
(t)
Adding rst and last equations we eliminate
2
at rst, multiply it by

and integrate to nd constant of motion,
(mR
2
+ I)

mgRsin

= 0
1
2
(mR
2
+ I)

2
+ mgRcos = const = mgR
which gives

2
and
1

2
=
2mgR
mR
2
+ I
(1 cos )
1
(t) = mR

2
+ mg cos = mg
3 +
1 +
_
cos
2
3 +
_
where = I/mR
2
, and the ying o will happen at the critical angle
cos
f
=
2
3 +
.
To nd the torque we use
2
= I

and use constant of motion to get

,

=
mgR
mR
2
+ I
sin

2
R
= mg

1 +
sin
Slipping will occur when
2
/R =
1
, which gives an equation for
s
sin
s
= [(3 + ) cos
s
2]
Limiting cases.
is small: denote
0
= arccos
2
3
48.2

. Employing Taylor expansion one gets,

f

0
+
2
9 sin
0

s

0

3
(1

tan
0
)
- both linear in and
s
<
f
, as expected. For large we do asymptotic expansion,

f


2

2

+
3

cos
2

(1
2
3 cos

) where

= arctan
Check that it makes sense. 0 means that the cylinder is massless and to rotate it no force needed. If this
indicates that the cylinder is dicult to rotate and the rotation will occur with innitesimally small speed.
Answer of Problem 4
Choose the center of mass coordinates (x, y) of the ladder and the angle between the ladder and the oor . The
lagrangian with constraints
L

=
1
2
I

2
+
1
2
M x
2
+
1
2
M y
2
Mgy +
x
(x

2
cos ) +
y
(y

2
sin )
5
where I = M
2
/12 is the moment of inertia of the ladder around center of mass, and
x,y
are the Lagrange multipliers
that describe the reaction forces from the wall/oor. Equations of motion that we need to solve are
I

=
x

2
sin
y

2
cos
M x =
x
M y = Mg +
y
x =

2
cos
y =

2
sin
Multiply rst equation by

and using constraints we can re-write it as
I

=
x
x
y
y = M x x M( y + g) y
This we integrate to get constant of motion
1
2
I

2
+
1
2
M( x
2
+ y
2
) + Mgy = const = Mg

2
sin
0
which is a conservation of energy. Substituting into this expression constraints one has ecuation for single variable ,
which we use to nd

,

,
1
2
M
2
3

2
= Mg

2
(sin
0
sin )

2
=
3g

(sin
0
sin )

=
3g
2
cos
Now using these results the x-component of reaction force is

x
= M x =
1
2
M
d
2
dt
2
cos =
1
2
M(cos

2
sin

) =
3Mg
2
cos (sin
0
sin
1
2
sin ) =
9Mg
4
cos (sin
2
3
sin
0
)
It becomes zero when ladder makes angle sin

=
2
3
sin
0
with the oor. Q.E.D.
After the separation from the wall the ladder remains in contact with the oor and we need to solve a problem
with one constraint. If we take the moment of separation as t = 0, the motion along x-axis is given by
x(t) = v

t + x

where x

=

2
cos

and v

= x

2
sin

and angular velocity at the moment of separation is

=
3g

(sin
0
sin

) =
g

sin
0
Remaining motion is described by equations,
I

=
y

2
cos
M y = Mg +
y
y =

2
sin
we again do similar procedure to derive the constant of motion
const =
1
2
I

2
+
1
2
M y
2
+ Mgy =
1
2
[I +
M
2
4
cos
2
]

2
+ Mgy =
1
2
M
2
4
[
1
3
+ cos
2
]

2
+ Mg

2
sin = Mg

2
C
where C is a constant that is found from initial conditions at t = 0,
C =

4g
[
1
3
+ cos
2

+ sin

= sin
0
(1
1
9
sin
2

0
)
6
It is sin

< C < 1. The constant of motion gives equation for single variable that we can integrate,

2
=
4g

C sin
1
3
+ cos
2

1
3
+ cos
2

C sin
=
_
4g

t
To nd whether the contact with the oor is lost at any point, we nd

y
= M(g + y) = Mg(1 +

2g

sin )
denoting function

= f() one can get

y
= M(g + y) = Mg(1 +

2g
(sin f
2
+ cos
df
d
f)) = Mg(1 +

4g
d
d sin
(cos
2
f
2
()))
which after substitution of

2
gives

y
Mg
= 1 +
d
d sin
(1 sin
2
)(C sin )
4
3
sin
2

Dierentiating and setting

y
= 0 we nd condition on angle

when separation from the oor can occur. The

resulting quadratic equation gives
sin

= C
_
C
2
4/3
- complex solution for

since C < 1, so there is always contact with the oor.