Physics 103H/105 Problem Set 1

Solutions

September 29, 2011 Problem 1. (5pts)

Let and be unit vectors in the x-y plane, making angles and with the x-axis. a b
y j a () b i

Denote by the unit vector in the x direction and by the unit vector in the y direction. i j (a) From vector addition we can write = ax + ay a i j.

ay

ax

Using trigonometry, ax = cos , ay = sin , since the length of is unity. Hence a = cos + sin , a i j as required. If we repeat the same argument for and replace by , we get b = cos + sin . b i j (2) (1)

To show that cos( ) = cos cos + sin sin , we use the dot product. The denition of the dot product for two arbitrary vectors p and q is p q = |p||q| cos , (3)

where |p| denotes the magnitude of p (similarly for q) and is the angle between p and q. We can calculate the dot product in two dierent ways. First we note that || = | = 1 a b| and the angle between the vectors is . This gives us = cos( ) . a b Secondly, = (cos + sin (cos + sin a b i j) i j) = cos cos + sin sin + cos sin + sin cos . i i j j i j j i (4)

(5)

Now, and are unit vectors and thus have magnitude one, and = = 0, since i j i j j i so if we equate the results from the two ways of calculating we get i j, a b cos( ) = cos cos + sin sin , (6)

as required. (N.B. it doesnt matter if is bigger than since cos( ) = cos( )). (b) Multiply R() by . a R() = a = = cos sin sin cos cos sin

cos cos sin sin sin cos + cos sin cos( + ) sin( + ) (7)

= . c

We have found that the matrix product of R() and is another column vector, . The a c vector has magnitude one and makes an angle + with the x-axis, so the eect of c R() is to rotate anti-clockwise by an angle . a

Aside: Matrix Multiplication If matrix multiplication is still a bit unclear, one way to think of it is row 1 row 2 row 3 . . . column 1 column 2 column 3 . . . column j . . . . row i ... The entry in the ith row and j th column of the product matrix is the sum of the rst element in the ith row times the rst element in the j th column plus the product of the second element in the ith row times the second element in the j th column and so on. This means you can only take a matrix product between two matrices when the rst has the same number of rows as the second has columns. (c) Acting with the matrix R() on an arbitrary vector v gives the vector w = R()v. Acting on w with R() gives R()w = R() R()v . (8)

Using the denition of matrix product it can be easily checked that matrix multiplication is associative. By associativity we have R() R()v = R()R() v =: M v , (9)

where we denoted by M the product R()R().1 By construction the vector M v is just v rotated by ( + ). Thus we see that the matrix M = R()R() indeed induces rotation by ( + ). This can also be seen more directly. The product of the individual rotations is R()R() = = = cos sin sin cos cos sin sin cos

cos cos sin sin (cos sin + sin cos ) sin cos + cos sin cos cos sin sin cos( + ) sin( + ) sin( + ) cos( + ) (10)

= R( + ) ,

where we have used the denition in part b) to get from the second last to the last line. Hence we have shown that R( + ) = R()R().
Note that the matrix operation that acts rst (the rotation by ) is written on the right in the matrix multiplication. Although for rotations in two dimensions this fact is not important, it is good to keep in mind for more general matrices.
1

Here it is also true that R( + ) = R()R(), so it doesnt matter whether we rotate rst by then , or rst by then , which follows our common sense (for the twodimensional case). However, we have to be careful with more general matrix products, because in most cases for two matrices A and B it is not true that AB = BA. When AB = BA, it is said that the two matrices do not commute. You have examples of noncommuting matrices in the Course Materials.

Problem 2. (5pts)
The position of the particle is given by x(t) = 3 m sin(2 rad/s t) + 1 m , y(t) = 2 m1/2 /s t 1 m1/2
2

1m.

(11)

(a) To calculate the x-velocity, note that it is the time derivative of the position on the x-axis, d (12) vx (t) = x(t) , dt so vx (t) = 6 m s1 cos(2 rad/s t) . (13) Hence vx (1 s) = 6 m s1 cos(2 rad) 2.5 m s1 . (14) (The sign of the x-velocity is negative since the particle is moving in the negative xdirection.) (b) To nd where the particle rst has vx = 0, take the expression for vx (t) and note that vx (t) = 0 when cos(2 rad/s t) = 0. Hence 2 rad/s t = /2, since /2 is the rst point where cos = 0 for > 0, hence (15) t = s. 4 This corresponds to a position of x = 3 m sin(/2) + 1 m = 4m y = 0.674 m . (16)

Alternatively, we could note that sine takes a maximum value of 1. In the x-position it is multiplied by an amplitude of 3 m, and initially x(t) is increasing. Hence x(t) will increase until it reaches 4 m, then it will turn around and come back. To reverse direction vx must instantaneously be zero, and we get the answer of x = 4 m at this moment. (c) To nd the particles acceleration we note that acceleration is the time derivative of velocity, ax (t) = d vx (t) dt = 12 m s2 sin(2 rad/s t) . 4

(17)

The time calculated in part (b) is t = /4 s, hence ax (/4 s) = 12 sin(/2) m s2 = 12 m s2 . (18)

(d) To nd the time when the particle passes y = 0 we need to solve the equation y(t) = 0. This equation has two solutions: t = 0 and t = 1 s. We need t > 0, so the appropriate root is t = 1 s. Substituting it back into the expressions for velocity we nd vx (1 s) = 6 m s1 cos(2 rad) = 2.5 m s1 , vy (1 s) = 4(2 rad/s t 1) = 4 m s1 , where we used vy (t) = dy = 4 m1/2 /s 2 m1/2 /s t 1 m1/2 = 8 m/s2 t 4 m/s . dt (20) (19)

Problem 3. (5pts)
(a) In the rst part of the problem, the situation is the same as the one in the question, and just like we found the velocity of the particle in O , we can also nd the acceleration in O by simply using its denition : a since u is a constant. Thus, under a Galilean transformation, the acceleration remains unchanged. (b) Here, O is not moving at a constant velocity with respect to O it is moving with a constant acceleration. O and O coincide at t = 0 and O is at rest in O at t = 0. Denoting the position and velocity of O in O as s(t) and u(t), this means s(0) = 0 , Also, du = . dt where is a constant. So, u(t) = u(0) + t , and 1 s(t) = s(0) + u(0)t + t2 . 2 1 s(t) = t2 . 2 5 (24) (25) (23) u(0) = 0 . (22) dv d dv du = (v u) = = a. dt dt dt dt (21)

Thus, (26)

(c) Denoting the position, velocity and acceleration of the particle in O by x2 , v2 and a2 , 1 x2 = x2 s = x2 t2 , 2 dx v2 = 2 = v2 t , dt dv2 a2 = = a2 . dt (27a) (27b) (27c)

Problem 4. (5pts)
For the rst part of the motion, the marble moves upwards together with the boy and the elevator at uniform speed ve . Hence, when the boy drops the marble at time T1 , it will have that same velocity initially, pointing in the positive y direction. The height of the marble at time T1 can be written as h = ve T1 . (28) Following the drop, the marbe will move with uniform accelaration a = g pointing vertically downwards. We can write its position as a function of time: y(t) = y0 + v0 t + 1/2at2 , (29)

where y0 and v0 are the initial position and initial velocity, respectively. In our case, this boils down to y(t) = h + ve t 1/2gt2 , (30) with time being measured from the moment the marble was dropped. When the marble hits the ground at time T2 , we have
2 0 = h + ve T2 1/2gT2 ,

(31)

and by substituting ve = h/T1 in the above equation, we can solve for the height of the elevator, namely 2 h = 1/2gT2 /(1 + T2 /T1 ) . (32) Note that we could have also substituted h = ve T1 and solved rst for the elevators velocity ve , and then for the height. Try and see if you get the same result!

Problem 5. (5pts)
The car maximal acceleration is a1 = 120 miles/hour = 1.78 m/s2 . The maximal breaking 30 s acceleration is a2 = 0.7g = 6.86 m/s2 . The car accelerates uniformly to speed V0 and passes the total distance L = 0.5 miles = 805 m in total time T .

V V0 B

a1

a2

C T

A body starting with speed Vi , moving with constant acceleration a and ending with V 2 V 2 speed Vf passes the distance f 2a i . Applying this formula to the car motion on intervals AB and BC, we get V2 V2 (33) L= 0 + 0 , 2a1 2a2 which gives for the maximal speed V0 = 2L . 1/a1 + 1/a2 (34)

The time needed to accelerate is V0 /a1 , the time needed for braking is V0 /a2 , so the total time is T = V0 /a1 + V0 /a2 . Substituting (34), we have T = 2L(1/a1 + 1/a2 ) = 33.7 s . (35)

It is not quite clear from the text of the problem, whether 120 miles/hour is a maximal possible speed of the car, or it was given just to dene acceleration. So lets check what is the value of the speed V0 . From (34) we get V0 = 47.7 m/s 107 miles/hour. Thus, the car does not reach 120 miles/hour, and our solution is anyway correct.

Problem 6. (no points)

We are given l = 10 cm, D = 50 cm and v = 10 cm/s. We wish to calculate the values of for which the stick will hit the wall at-on. The rst thing we note is that the time for the stick to reach the wall will be t = D/v = 5 s. If = 0, then the stick does not spin, and hence clearly hits the wall at on. If = 0 then there are two conditions that need to be met. One is that the stick perform an integer multiple of half a rotation in the time it takes to reach the wall; this is the condition that ensures that the stick is at-on when it hits the wall. The total angle swept out by the stick as it rotates is t, hence we have t = n (2) , 2 7 (36)

where n is an integer. Using our equation for t, our rst condition is = nv n = rad/s . D 5 (37)

The second condition we obtain from requiring that the stick cannot go through the wall (i.e., we have a real wall). If any part of the rod is moving to the left when the rod reaches the wall, that means that it must have been beyond the wall just before impact. This is non-physical, so we have to make sure that it doesnt occur. Lets consider one of the ends of the rod, since if any point goes through the wall, these will be the ones that do. The motion of these points has two contributions, linear and rotational motion. To make sure that the rod doesnt go through the wall, we need their sum to be greater than zero, that is v Hence v> which implies 2v = 2 rad/s . (40) l Comparing (37) and (40), we need to satisfy both at the same time, which gives us solutions of n n = rad/s , with n {0, 1, 2, 3}. (41) 5 The positions of the center of the rod and the ends for varying values of n are shown below if we had n = 4, then one end of the rod would go through the wall before hitting the wall at-on. We still need to verify that for |n| 3, the end of the rod does not hit the wall at any time t < 5 s. It suces to show that the horizontal velocity of the end of the rod is positive at all times. In fact, the horizontal velocity is given by < v l l cos t v 0. 2 2 (42) l > 0. 2 l , 2 (38)

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