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    EP 222: Classical Mechanics Tutorial Sheet 1: 2 2 I I 2 I I, J I J 2 Ij

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    Ashok Garg
    This tutorial sheet contains problems on classical mechanics including: 1) Deriving differential equations for kinetic energy involving constant and varying mass. 2) Proving an equation for the magnitude of the position vector of the center of mass. 3) Showing that Lagrange's equations can be written in Nielsen form. 4) Demonstrating that adding a total derivative to the Lagrangian does not change Lagrange's equations.

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    EP 222: Classical Mechanics Tutorial Sheet 1: 2 2 I I 2 I I, J I J 2 Ij

    Uploaded by

    Ashok Garg
    49 views2 pages
    This tutorial sheet contains problems on classical mechanics including: 1) Deriving differential equations for kinetic energy involving constant and varying mass. 2) Proving an equation for the magnitude of the position vector of the center of mass. 3) Showing that Lagrange's equations can be written in Nielsen form. 4) Demonstrating that adding a total derivative to the Lagrangian does not change Lagrange's equations.

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    This tutorial sheet contains problems on classical mechanics including: 1) Deriving differential equations for kinetic energy involving constant and varying mass. 2) Proving an equation for the magnitude of the position vector of the center of mass. 3) Showing that Lagrange's equations can be written in Nielsen form. 4) Demonstrating that adding a total derivative to the Lagrangian does not change Lagrange's equations.

    Copyright:

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

    EP 222: Classical Mechanics Tutorial Sheet 1: 2 2 I I 2 I I, J I J 2 Ij

    Uploaded by

    Ashok Garg
    This tutorial sheet contains problems on classical mechanics including: 1) Deriving differential equations for kinetic energy involving constant and varying mass. 2) Proving an equation for the magnitude of the position vector of the center of mass. 3) Showing that Lagrange's equations can be written in Nielsen form. 4) Demonstrating that adding a total derivative to the Lagrangian does not change Lagrange's equations.

    Copyright:

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

    EP 222: Classical Mechanics

    Tutorial Sheet 1
    This tutorial sheet contains problems on the Newton’s laws of motion and Lagrangian
    formalism.

    1. Show that for a single particle with a constant mass the equation of motion implies
    the following differential equation for the kinetic energy:
    dT
    = F · v,
    dt
    while if the mass varies with time the corresponding equation is

    d(mT )
    = F · p.
    dt

    2. Prove that the magnitude R of the position vector for the center of mass from an
    arbitrary origin is given by the equation
    X 1X
    M 2 R2 = M mi ri2 − 2
    mi mj rij
    i
    2 i,j

    3. Show that the Lagrange equations


     
    d ∂T ∂T
    − = Qj ,
    dt ∂ q˙j ∂qj

    can also be written as


    ∂ Ṫ ∂T
    −2 = Qj .
    ∂ q˙j ∂qj
    These are sometimes called the Nielsen form of Lagrange equations.

    4. If L is a Lagrangian for a system of n degrees of freedom satisfying the Lagrange


    equations, show by direct substitution that

    dF (q1 , . . . , qn , t)
    L0 = L +
    dt
    also satisfies Lagrange’s equations where F is any arbitrary, but differentiable, function
    of its arguments.

    5. Obtain the Lagrange equations of motion for a spherical pendulum, i.e., a point mass
    suspended by a rigid weightless rod.

    6. Obtain the Lagrangian and equations of motion for a double pendulum, where the
    lengths of the pendula are l1 and l2 with corresponding masses m1 and m2 , confined
    to move in a plane.

    1
    7. If we want to obtain the equations of motion for a charged particle of mass m, moving
    in an electromagnetic field (E, B), the potential in the Lagrangian has to be velocity
    dependent U = qφ − qA · v, where q is the charge of the particle, and φ, and A,
    respectively, are the scalar and vector potentials of the electromagnetic field so that
    ∂A
    E = −∇φ −
    ∂t
    B = ∇ × A.

    Show that using this Lagrangian, we obtain the correct equations of motion for the
    particle.

    8. The electromagnetic field is invariant under a gauge transformation of the scalar and
    vector potential given by

    A → A + ∇ψ(r, t),
    ∂ψ
    φ → φ− ,
    ∂t
    where ψ is arbitrary (but differentiable). What effect does this gauge transformation
    have on the Lagrangian of a moving particle in the electromagnetic field? Is the
    equation of motion affected?

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