PHYSICS 110A : CLASSICAL MECHANICS

HW 4 SOLUTIONS

(1) Taylor 6.6

(a)
p
Here we are working with ds = dx2 + dy 2 . For a function y = y(x) we will pull out a dx
to have:
s
 2
q
p
dy
= dx 1 + (y )2 .
ds = dx2 + dy 2 = dx 1 +
dx
(b)
Similarly for a function x = x(y) we have:
s
 2
q
p
dx
2
2
ds = dx + dy = dy 1 +
= dy 1 + (x )2 .
dy

(c)
Now for cylindrical coordinates we should remember the line element looks like:
d~l = dr
r + rd + dz
z.
So for a function r = r() we have:
ds =

dr 2

r 2 d2

= d

r2

dr
d

2

q
= d r 2 + (r )2 .

(d)
And for a function = (r) we have:
ds =

dr 2

r 2 d2

= dr

1+

r2

d
dr

2

) = dr

1 + r 2 ( )2 .

1 + R2 ( )2 .

(e)
For a function = (z) we have:
ds =

R2

d
dz

2

= dz

dz 2 + R2 d2 = d R2 +

dz
d

2

= dz

dz 2

R2 d2

= dz

1+

(f )
For a function z = z() we have:
ds =

R2 + (z )2 .

Finally for spherical coordinates we have:

d~l = dr
r + rd + r sin d.
(g)
So for a function = () we have:
s
 2
q
q
d
2
2
2
2
2
2
ds = R d + R sin d = Rd sin +
= Rd sin2 + ( )2 .
d
(h)
And for a function = () we have:
ds =

R2 d 2 + R2 sin2 d2 = Rd

1 + sin2

d
d

2

= Rd

q
1 + sin2 ( )2 .

(2) Taylor 6.11

We want to find the path y = y(x) for which the integral:
Zx2

x1

p
x 1 + y 2 dx,

is stationary.
For this we turn to the Euler-Lagrange equation:
f
d f

= 0,
y
dx y
Where f =

p
x 1 + y 2 .

As f is not explicitly dependent on y we have

Solving for y we have:

f
y

= constant or:

xy
p
= k.
1 + y 2

k
.
x k2
Which is a separable differential equation which can be solved like:
y =

dy =

Zx

dx

x0

k
.
x k2

(1)

Which has the solution:

y = 2k

x k2 C.

Where C = 2k x0 k2 + y0 . So this leads us to an equation for a parabola as such:

x=

(y + C)2
+ k2 .
4k2

(3) Taylor 6.22

The equation to find the area between the string and the x-axis is as so:
Area =

Zxf

ydx.

Zl

f ds,

A hint is given to change this into the form:

Area =

(2)

so that we can deal with something we know, l, the length of the string.
Our normal ds element is as such:
ds =
Which can be rearranged to get:
dx =

dx2 + dy 2 .

ds2 dy 2 = ds 1

dy 2
= ds
ds

This will give us an f in equation 2 above of:

q
f = y 1 y 2.

1 y2 .

Now since there is no explicit dependence on s in f we can use the first integral as in
equation 6.43 of the text. So we will have:
f y

f
= constant.
y

Which for us will be:

y
p

1 y2

= k.

Where k is some constant.

This in turn leads to:
y =
Integrating this we have:

1 (y/k)2 .

arcsin(y/k) = s/k;
or:
y = k sin(s/k);

(3)

Now we can go back to out definition of dx from above:

q
dx = ds 1 y 2 .

Integrating this we get:

x = k k cos(s/k);

(4)

Putting equation 3 and 4 together we have:

(x k)2 + y 2 = k2 .
Which is the equation of a circle with radius k.

(4) Taylor 6.23

The integral for time takes the form:
t=

Zsf

si

ds
.
v

For us ds will be:

ds =
And the velocity v is:
v=
So we have:
t=

Zxf

xi

dx2 + dy 2 = dx

1 + y2 .

(v0 cos + V y)2 + v02 sin2 .

dx

1 + y2

(v0 cos + V y)2 + v02 sin2

Now when and y are small we can approximate:

q
1 2
ds = dx 1 + y 2 dx(1 + y ),
2
and,

v v0 + V y.

So we have:
t=

Zxf

xi

Here our functional is:

dx(1 + 12 y 2 )
.
v0 (1 + ky)

1 + 12 y 2
.
f=
1 + ky

Now this is not explicitly dependent on the variable x so we may use the first integral as
we discussed in discussion section Thursday night but did not finish. There is a subtlety,
however. The first integral is as follows:
f y

f
= C.
y

For us this looks like so:

1 + 12 y 2
1 12 y 2
y2

=
= C.
1 + ky
1 + ky
1 + ky
This is a first order differential equation. Now we are told the solution looks as follows:
y = x(D x).
Plugging in to our differential equation we get:
1 2
1 y = C(1 + ky).
2
Or:

1
1 2 D2 22 x2 + 22 Dx = C + Ck[xD x2 ].
(5)
2
In order to get an equation for we must get rid of all terms involving x. If we set our
constant term equal to 2
k (since its a constant we have that freedom) equation 5 reduces
to:
1
2
1 2 D 2 =
.
2
k
Which has solution:

4 + 2k2 D 2 2
;
=
kD2
as advertised.

You may also do this using the Euler-Lagrange equation (equation 1) to get a second order
differential equation:
k
y [1 ky] + k y 2 = 0.
2
This will lead to the same equation for .

(5) Taylor 6.25

Lets start by stating the parameterized equation for x and y:

x = a( sin ),
and
y = a(1 cos ).

Now the differential is ds =

ds =
So:
ds =

dx2 + dy 2 or:

dx2

dy 2

= d

s

dx
d

2

dy
d

2

(a(1 cos ))2 + (a sin )2 = a 2 2 cos .

And we can find the velocity using conservation of energy:

p
p
v = 2g(y y0 ) = 2ga(cos 0 cos ).

Where we inserted the above definition for x and where y0 = a(1 cos )(remember in this
picture gravity is in the positive y-direction).
Putting this together with our definition of time integral we have:
t=

Zsf

si

ds
=
v

p
r Z
(1 cos )
a
=
.
d p
d p
g
2ga(cos 0 cos )
(cos 0 cos )
p
a 2(1 cos )

So now we have this integral to complete. The book suggests a change of variables = 2.
With this change we can find:
r Z0
cos
a
t=2
d p
.
2
g
(sin 0 sin2 )
0

Lets do a substitution u =

sin
sin 0 :

r Z1
r
r
du
a
a
a

t=2
=
.
=2
g
g2
g
1 u2
0

So this means no matter where you let go of the car, the time to get to the bottom is the
same. Qualitatively if you were to move the cars initial position further up the track, the
extra distance the car needs to travel is exactly balanced by the increased slope of the track.