lecture 7

Topics: Where are we now? The Lagrangian and Euler-Lagrange equations Generalized Force and Momentum Example - bead on a expanding ring Example - bead on a rotating rod More degrees of freedom Example - frictionless table Energy again Example - Atwoods machine Where are we now? In the last lecture, I tried to convince you that Hamiltons principle and the Euler-Lagrange equation captures what is really going on in classical mechanics, paradoxically because classical mechanics arises as the classical limit of quantum mechanics. In this lecture, we will rst describe the conservation laws that arise when the Lagrangian does not depend on some coordinate. In particular, we will discuss conservation momentum and angular momentum. We will then go on to discuss how energy conservation arises from Lagrangians that do not depend explicitly on time. I have included a lot in the notes for this lecture that we will probably not get to discuss in any detail, just to give you more resources to use for the upcoming exam (both the take-home and in-class parts). The Lagrangian and Euler-Lagrange equations Lets begin by going over Hamiltons principle and the Euler-Lagrange equation again. We begin by constructing the Lagrangian, L. L x(t), x (t), t = T x(t), x (t), t U x(t), x (t), t (1)

Where T and U are the kinetic and potential energies, as functions of the variable x that describes the conguration of the system, and its time derivative, x . This time I have included the possibility that these functions also depend explicitly on t. By explicit time dependence, I mean dependence beyond that coming from the time dependence of x(t). We will come back to this a little later when we discuss energy. From the Lagrangian, we construct the action S [x] by integrating in time from an initial time t1 to a nal time t2 . S [x] =
t2 t1

dt L x(t), x (t), t

(2)

Then Hamiltons principle is the statement that the actual trajectory that describes the evolution of the system from x(t1 ) = x1 to x(t2 ) = x2 is the trajectory around which the variation of S [x] 1

vanishes. What I showed you last time is that we could turn this condition into a differential equation for the trajectory by setting to zero the functional derivative S [x] d = L x(t), x (t), t L x(t), x (t), t x(t) x(t) dt x (t) Thus Hamiltons principle implies that the solution for the motion satises d L x(t), x (t), t L x(t), x (t), t = 0 x(t) dt x (t) (4) (3)

This is the Euler-Lagrange equation. Hamiltons principle tell us that the classical trajectory satises (4). But we are usually interested not in checking that a given solution satises the EulerLagrange equation, but rather in using the Euler-Lagrange equation to nd the solution. Then because (4) is just a differential equation for x(t), it is conventional to drop the explicit time dependence of x and write it as d L x, x, t L x, x, t =0 x dt x (5)

Solving the differential equation (5) and imposing the initial conditions then gives us x(t). I hope that you have followed the arguments that lead to the Euler-Lagrange equation, and are fascinated by the connection to quantum mechanics that I mentioned. But in a way it doesnt matter. What is most important for this course is that you understand what the Euler-Lagrange equation says, and how to get it from the kinetic and potential energies. Note that once we have used Hamiltons principle to determine the Euler-Lagrange equation, we dont have to impose the initial conditions in the peculiar way we did in Hamiltons principle by specifying a beginning and ending position. Any way of specifying the two initial conditions will do, as long as our solution satises the differential equation we derived from Hamiltons principle. Generalized Force and Momentum For a particle of mass m moving in a potential V (x), the Euler-Lagrange equation of motion can be written as dp d d L L = (mx ) = = = V (x) = F (x) (6) dt dt dt x x the rate of change of the momentum is equal to the force. In the more general situation, this suggests that we might regard the Euler-Lagrange equations, L d L = dt q j qj as a generalization of this we call L q j (7)

(8)

the generalized momentum corresponding to the coordinate qj and L qj (9)

the generalized force corresponding to the coordinate qj . Then the Lagrange equation says that the rate of change of the generalized momentum equals the corresponding generalized force. A particularly interesting case occurs when the Lagrangian does not depend at all on some coordinate qj . In that case, (7) implies that the generalized momentum corresponding to qj is constant. This statement becomes even more interesting when you realize that we have great freedom to choose the coordinates any way we want to. Thus if there is any coordinate system in which the Lagrangian does not depend on some coordinate, then there is a conservation law the corresponding generalized momentum is conserved. Example - bead on an expanding ring Lets warm up by doing a couple of examples of Euler-Lagrange equations for systems with a single degree of freedom. Ill begin with a system that is mathematically very simple, but that I dont actually know how to build. Suppose we have a small bead with mass m that slides without friction on circular ring centered in the x y plane, but whose radius grows as a function of time as r(t) = r0 + vrr t (10) It will be most useful to analyze this in terms the polar angle in terms of which the x and y coordinates of the bead are x = r(t) cos y = r(t) sin (11) We can nd the kinetic energies by differentiating (11) to get the components of the velocity, sin vx = vrr cos cos vy = vrr sin + (12)

We can also write the kinetic energy of the bead directly in terms of using the fact that the radial motion of the bead due to the expansion of the ring and tangential motion associated with changing are instantaneously perpendicular. Either way se see that v 2 can be written as
2 2 v2 = x 2 + y 2 = vrr + r(t)2

(13)

Remember here that r(t) is not a dynamical variable the time dependence of r is imposed on the system from the beginning. There is no potential energy because the system is in a horizontal plane, so the Lagrangian is t) = m v 2 + r(t)2 2 (14) L(, , 2 rr The Euler-Lagrange equation here is particularly simple because the Lagrangian does not depend at all on . Thus 0= t d L , , t = d L , , t = d m r(t)2 L , , dt dt dt 3 (15)

What is nice about (15) is that the solution (or more properly the rst integral) is really simple. = a constant m r(t)2 (16)

The relation (16) is an example of conservation of a generalized momentum. The Lagrangian does , so the generalized momentum not depend on , only on L (17)

is constant. In fact, as we will discuss in more detail later, this is the angular momentum, which is conserved because there is no torque on the mass about the origin. To nd the constant, we need an initial condition. For example if the angular velocity at t = 0 is (0) = 0 , then we can write = m r 2 0 m r(t)2 (18) 0 thus
2 r0 0 = d = dt (r0 + vrr t)2

(19)

We can now integrate this to nd (t). Again we need an initial condition. If (0) = 0 then (t) = 0 +
0 t 2 r0 0 0 r 0 t = 0 + 2 (r0 + vrr t ) r0 + vrr t

(20)

dt

(21)

This system is animated in the Mathematica le lecture-7-1.nb. Example - bead on a rotating rod Next, consider a bead with mass m on a straight frictionless rod that rotates with constant angular velocity . For simplicity, we will let it rotate around the origin in the x-y plane. Then gravity plays no role. The angle with the x axis at time t is t. This would not be a trivial problem if we were armed only with F = ma. But with a Lagrangian it is easy. For one thing, the Lagrangian technique allows us to focus just on where the bead is on the wire. Let (which can be negative) be the distance along the rod where the bead sits at time t. This species the conguration of the system. The position of the bead at time t is then x = cos t The velocity is x = cos t sin t y = sin t y = sin t + cos t
2

(22)

(23)

Thus the kinetic energy is

1 1 m x 2 + y 2 = m 2 + 2 2 4

(24)

The explicit time dependence from (23) has gone away when we form the square of velocity. If you think about the two terms on the right hand side of (24), you will realize that the rst one is related to the motion of the bead along the rod, and the second one with the rotation of the rod. Because these two motions are perpendicular, there is no cross term and the total kinetic energy is just a sum of the two effects. In this case, there is no potential, so the Lagrangian is just given by the kinetic energy, (24), and it doesnt depend on t explicitly, so we dont need t in the list of variables, 1 L( , ) = m 2 + 2 and the Euler-Lagrange equation is 0 = m 2 or = 2 d (m ) dt (26)
2

(25)

(27)

This is a differential equation we can solve easily because it is linear and TTI. The general solution is (t) = C et + D et (28) You are likely to see this written in term of the so-called hyberbolic functions, sinh x = ex ex 2 cosh x = ex + ex 2 (29)

These are handy, because they have properties that are reminiscent of the more familiar trigonometic functions, sin x and cos x. But if you are not used to them, you can always do everything in terms of exponentials. At any rate, if the bead starts from rest at = 0 at t = 0, the solution looks like (t) =
0 cosh t = 0

et + et 2

(30)

Exponentials get big quickly, so this bead gets going pretty fast. For example, in the time / , while the rod rotates through 180 , the distance from the origin increases by a factor of cosh 11.6 (31)

So this is at good way to launch things. If instead, the rod rotates with constant angular velocity around the origin in the x-z plane in the earths gravitational eld, then we have to include the effect of gravity - but this is easy. Again, we take the angle with the x axis at time t is t. The conguration of the system looks the same except that z replaces y . Thus the kinetic energy looks the same. But now there is a gravitational contribution to the potential energy U ( , t) = mgz = mg sin t 5 (32)

Thus the Lagrangian in this case depends explicitly on t. It looks like 1 L( , , t) = m 2 + 2 and the Euler-Lagrange equation is 0 = m 2 mg sin t or = 2 g sin t d (m ) dt (34)
2

2 mg sin t

(33)

(35)

More degrees of freedom We didnt get to discuss more degrees of freedom in detail last time, and it is sufciently important for the problem set that I wanted to go over it slowly and give an example. Hamiltons principle works just as well for more particles, or in more dimensions. Suppose that there are n particles, so that n mj 2 T = x j and U = V (x1 , , xn ) (36) j =1 2 Then it is easy to see by the same sort of arguments that S = mj x j Vj x1 , , xn xj where Vj (x1 , , xn ) V (x1 , , xn ) xj (37)

(38)

is the force on particle j . For S [x] to be an extremum, we must have (37) vanish for each j , which just gives F = ma for each particle. In general, if the Lagrangian depends on more degrees of freedom, Hamiltons principle requires that an Euler-Lagrange equation be satised for each coordinate: d L x, x, t L x, x, t =0 xj dt x j (39)

where the xs and x s in the function L now indicate all the components that is L(x, x, t) is really a shorthand for L(x1 , x2 , , x 1, x 2 , , t) (40) Example - frictionless table Here is an example of a Lagrangian for a system with two degrees of freedom. Consider a frictionless table in the x-y plane with a hole at the origin. A mass m1 slides on the surface of the table, but it is attached to a massless string of length R which goes through the hole in the center of the 6

table and hangs straight down where it is attached to a mass m2 . We can describe the conguration of the system by giving the length, , of string on the table and the angle, , of the string on the table from the x axis. From above, this looks like this:

m1 ...... . . . . . ..... ...... . . . . . ..... . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ...... . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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From the side, it looks like

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. ....................................................................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

m1

m2

The kinetic energy contains a term from the rate of change of , proportional to the sum of the masses (because both masses move when changes), and a term from the rate of change of , proportional to m1 2 ) = 1 (m1 + m2 ) 2 + 1 m1 2 (41) T ( , , , 2 2

.. ...... . . . . . ..... ...... . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . ..... . ........... .
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. . . . . . . . . .

. .

There there is also a potential energy related to the height of the mass m2 , ) = m2 g U ( , , , Now ) = 1 (m1 + m2 ) 2 + 1 m1 2 2 m2 g L( , , , 2 2 The Euler-Lagrange equations are 2 m2 g d (m1 + m2 ) 0 = m1 dt and d m1 2 dt The relation (45) is another example of conservation of a generalized momentum. 0= ) = 1 (m1 + m2 ) 2 + 1 m1 2 2 m2 g L( , , , 2 2 9 (42)

(43)

(44)

(45)

(46)

doesnt depend on . Thus the generalized momentum corresponding to , L = m1 2 (47)

is constant. Of course, this is just what we found explicitly when we wrote down the EulerLagrange equation, (27). This conserved generalized momentum is another example of angular momentum about the origin, which is conserved because the system has a rotation symmetry about the origin. Energy again Now we are going to do a little math that will lead to a remarkable and beautiful result. If the Lagrangian does not explicitly depend on time, we will nd that we can construct a function of the coordinates and the velocities of the system that does not change with time for any solution to the Euler-Lagrange equation. Often, we can identify this quantity with the energy. We will do this rst for a single degree of freedom, and then extend the result to systems with more degrees of freedom. Consider a system with a single degree of freedom described by the Lagrangian L(q, q, t) for some single coordinate q , and construct the quantity F =q L L q (49) (48)

In general, F may depend on q , q and t. Let us now ask how F changes with time, by taking the total derivative d d L d F = q L (50) dt dt q dt In the rst term on the right hand side of (50), we use the product rule to write d dt q L q =q L d L +q q dt q (51)

In the second term on the right hand side of (50), we use the fact that the t dependence of L comes from the explicit t dependence, and also from the implicit dependence on t through q and q : L L L d L=q +q + dt q q t (52)

The relation (52) is an example of one of those multivariable calculus things we have talked about before that will make your eyes glaze over if you just stare at the symbols. But if you translate it into words, it makes perfect sense. It says that the total rate of change of F with t is the rate of change of q times the rate at which F changes with q plus the rate of change of q times the rate at 10

which F changes with q plus the rate of change from the explicit time dependence. It is simply a matter of adding up all the possible sources of time variation of the function F . Subtracting (52) from (51) and using the Lagrange equation d L L = dt q q we get (53)

d L F = (54) dt t Thus if L does not depend on time EXPLICITLY, but only implicitly through the time dependence of q and q , the function F is constant for the trajectory. It is important to understand what is meant here by the words explicit and implicit. Explicit time dependence occurs only if there is some physics in the problem that changes with time. For example, the Lagrangian we discussed above in (33) for the particle sliding on a vertically rotating frictionless rod depends explicitly on time the Lagrangian has a sin t in it! On the other hand, ANY function of q and q depends implicitly on time, because q and q for the trajectory depend on time. Usually, this function F is the Energy! For example, suppose we look at the Lagrangian for a particle moving in a potential m 2 L(x, x ) = x V (x) (55) 2 For this Lagrangian, the function F is x m 2 L(x, x ) L(x, x ) = x mx L(x, x ) = x + V (x) x 2 (56)

which is the energy, as promised. For example, in the example of the bead on the horizontally rotating rod, where the Lagrangian is 1 L( , ) = m 2 + 2 2 (57) 2 the construction of (49) gives 1 F = m m 2 + 2
2

1 2 = m 2 2

(58)

You can check explicitly that this quantity is conserved for the general solution to (27). These two examples are rather different. In the second, the fact that the Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence is an accident, arising from the cancellation of the t dependence that we talked about earlier. This is related to the fact that F in this case is not the kinetic plus the potential energy, but rather a curious combinations of the terms in the kinetic energy. It is conserved, but the physical interpretation is obscure. In the rst example, however, the particle moving in a potential, the Lagrangian does not depend explicitly on t because there is a symmetry of the system. The symmetry in this case is time 11

translation invariance. In this case, F really is the physical energy. This is the rst of several important examples we will see in this course of the connection between a symmetry and conservation law. We will explore this further next week. For the vertically rotating rod, because L in (33) depends on time explicitly because of the factor of sin t, F is not conserved. The construction of the energy function makes it clear how to deal with more degrees of freedom. If q has an index, qj where j goes from 1 to n, the analogous construction for the function F is L F = q j L (59) q j j It must have this form for the analog of (50)-(54) to be valid, because the analog of (52) for more degrees of freedom is d L L L L= q j + q j + (60) dt q j qj t j j This requires that the same sum over degrees of freedom appears in the rst term in (59). With F dened as in (59), (54) is still valid. Thus the construction (59) is very general. In fact, it reproduces the usual expression for the energy as the kinetic plus the potential energy whenever the potential depends only on qj and the kinetic energy is proportional to two powers of the velocity. However, it is really even more general than that. For any Lagrangian that does not depend explicitly on t, (59) denes a conserved quantity. And if the explicit t dependence vanishes because of time translation invariance, the conserved quantity is the energy. For the system we discussed earlier with two masses connected by a string, one sliding on and the other hanging below a frictionless table, with Lagrangian (43), ) = 1 (m1 + m2 ) 2 + 1 m1 2 2 m2 g L( , , , 2 2 (61)

again there is no explicit time dependence, so we expect a conserved energy. Because there are two degrees of freedom, we have to use the construction (59), which gives for the conventional energy, T + U , m1 2 1 (m1 + m2 ) 2 1 m1 2 2 + m2 g F = (m1 + m2 ) + 2 2 1 1 2 + m2 g = (m1 + m2 ) 2 + m1 2 2 2

(62)

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Example - Atwoods machine Atwoods machines are collections of massless ropes, massless pulleys, and masses, like that shown below: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (63) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . m . ... 2 . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . ..... . . . ........ ..... . . . . . . . . . . .

m1

The motion of this Atwoods machine can be found the old fashioned way, by assigning unknowns to the various physical quantities in the system, the tension in the ropes at various points.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . T . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...... ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . m2 . ... .. . . . . . . . . ... . . . . ..... . . ............. ......... . . 2T ........................... . .
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(64)

m1

Note that because the pulleys are massless, the tension T is the same throughout the long rope, and the rope connected to mass 1 has tension 2T , as shown. We can now apply F = ma to each of the two masses: m1 a1 = 2T m1 g m2 a2 = T m2 g (65)

Finally, we have to realize that the two accelerations are related, because if mass 1 moves up a distance x, mass 2 must move down a distance 2x, because the length of the rope does not change. Thus if we allow only vertical motions, this is a system with only one degree of freedom, because x2 is actually determined once we x x1 . x2 = 2x1 + constant (66)

13

and the constant can be ignored, or absorbed into the denitions of x1 and x2 . It doesnt affect the accelerations or the forces. This is illustrated in the diagram below:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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(67)

2x1

m2

Thus we can write a2 = 2a1 so that (65) becomes m1 a1 = 2T m1 g 2m2 a1 = T m2 g (69) (68)

We can now solve these two equations for T and a1 , and conclude that a1 = and 2m2 m1 g m1 + 4m2 (70)

3m1 m2 g (71) m1 + 4m2 There is a politically incorrect but amusing story about Atwoods machine. A physics professor in an introductory course was describing this derivation to his introductory mechanics class, when one of the students asked why anyone should care about such a random collection of ropes and pulleys and masses. Without missing a beat, the professor replied that Atwoods machine had saved more lives than Penicillin by keeping dumb people out of medical school! When you think about it though, this derivation is a bit indirect, because you have to introduce the quantity T , which you dont care about. It is no wonder that premedical students nd this challenging. Note how much simpler this would be for them if they were armed with the Lagrangian! Here they just have to identify the kinetic and potential energies and turn the crank. The potential energy in this system is T = V (x1 ) = m1 gx1 + m2 gx2 = (m1 2m2 )gx1 The kinetic energy is T (x 1) = m1 2 m2 2 m1 + 4m2 2 x + x = x 1 2 1 2 2 2 14 (72)

(73)

Thus L(x1 , x 1) = Then

m1 + 4 m2 2 x 1 (m1 2m2 )gx1 2 L = (m1 + 4m2 )x 1 x 1

(74)

L = (m1 2m2 )g x1 So the Lagrange equation is

(75)

0 = (m1 2m2 )g (m1 + 4m2 ) x1

(76)

which immediately gives (70). This is too easy! We are lucky that this is not taught in premed physics around the world we might end up with a lot of dumb doctors!

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