10.
Exercises 39
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mC]
Use d’Alemben's principle to find the acceleration of m, down the (stationary)
plane.
s | i.
m
x
‘A block of mass m slides on a frictionless inclined plane, which is driven so that it
‘moves horizontally, the displacement of the plane at time t being some known
function x(t). Use d'Alember’s principle to find the equation of motion of the
block, taking as generalized coordinate the displacement s of the block down the
plane. Note that the acceleration of the block is nor “down the plane."
Nw, \'
‘A block of mass m slides on a frictionless inclined plane of mass M which in tum is
free to slide on a frictionless horizontal surface. Use d'Alemben's principe to find
the equations of motion of the block and the plane, taking as generalized
coordinates the displacement s of the block dowa the plane and the horizontal
displacement x of the plane.CHAPTER IIL
LAGRANGE'S EQUATIONS.
In the preceding chapter we obtained d'Alemben’s principle and showed how it
could be used to find the equations of motion. This approach is convenient in that the
usually uninteresting forces of constraint do not need to be considered. In this chapter we
extend these ideas and show how, starting from d’Alember's principle, we can write the
{equations of motion for @ wide range of mechanical systems, described by arbitrary sets of
‘generalized coordinates, in an elegant and compact way known as Lagrange's equations,
Lagrange’s equations
DiAlemben’s principle says tht the work done by the applied forces
x
sweatin peming,
plus the work done by the inertial forces:
x
women SComtyde
a
ina virwal displacement ar, is zero
Let us first consider the work SW" done by the applied forces. IF the 3N
panicle coordinates r, are expressed in terms of a set off generalized coordinates 4,
Fo FGdae GOs
the virtual displacements of the particles can be expressed in the form
Note that there is no term in this equation coming from "variation in time." In a virtual
displacement we imagine the sysiem “frozen” at the time of interest and then imagine
subjecting the system to displacements consistent with the constraints. Time is fixed in a
Vinual displacement, ‘The work done by the applied forces can thus be writen
ayvteooind soe sy) a,