Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year
Q.1 Write short notes on the following
1. Law of inertia
Ans: Law of inertia: Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion
in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it.
The First Law of Motion, commonly called the Law of Inertia,

Explanation:

When a body moves with constant velocity, there are either no forces
present or there are forces acting in opposite directions that cancel out. If the body
changes its velocity, then there must be an acceleration, and hence a total non-zero
force must be present. We note that velocity can change in two ways. The first way is to
change the magnitude of the velocity; the second way is to change its direction.

For example:

a package thrown out of an airplane will continue to move at the

speed of the airplane on the horizontal axis (in the direction of the airplane's
movement). Since the law of gravity acts on the package (a vertical downward axis), the
package will gather speed along the vertical axis, but on the horizontal axis its speed
will remain equal to that of the airplane.

2. Constrained motion

Ans: Constrained motion:

Whenever links are assembled to synthesize a mechanism, certain restrictions on
free movement get associated with each link. This restrictions are referred to
as constraints and any relative motion arising thereof is known as

a constrained motion
Basically there are three types of constrained motion

1. Completely Constrained Motion: When a motion between the pair takes place
in a definite direction w.r.t. direction of the force applied then the motion is called
Completely Constrained Motion
Square bar in a square hole undergoes completely constrained motion

2. Successfully constrained motion. If constrained motion is not achieved

by the pairing elements themselves, but by some other means, then, it is
called successfully constrained motion. Eg. Foot step bearing, where shaft
is constrained from moving upwards, by its self weight.

3. Incompletely constrained motion. When relative motion between pairing

elements takes place in more than one direction, it is called incompletely
constrained motion. Eg. Shaft in a circular hole.

3. Frame of reference
Ans: Frame of reference:
A set of coordinate axis in terms of which position or
movement may be specified or with reference to which physical laws may be
mathematically stated also called frame of reference

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year

A frame of reference is a reference point combined with a set of

directions.
A graphical representation of a 1-dimensional
frame of reference:

For example, a boy is standing still inside a train as it pulls out of a station. Both you and
the boy define your location as the point of reference and the direction train is moving as a
where you are standing as the point of reference and the direction the train is moving in as
forward

4. Galilean and Lorentz transformation.

Ans: Galilean and Lorentz transformation.

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year

Lorentz transformation:

The primed frame moves with velocity v in the x direction with respect to the fixed reference frame. The reference
frames coincide at t=t'=0. The point x' is moving with the primed frame.

The reverse transformation is:

Much of the literature of relativity uses the symbols and as defined

here to simplify the writing of relativistic relationships.

Michelson-Morleys experiment
Ans: Michelson-Morleys experiment:
5.

The most famous and successful was the one now known as the Michelson-Morley
experiment, performed by Albert Michelson
(1852-1931) and Edward Morley
(18381923) in 1887.
The Michelson Morley experiment is not consistent with Galilean/Newtonian relativity, as
the introductory film clip shows. Its results are explained using Einstein's principle of
relativity. A non-quantitative introduction is given here. This page gives a simple quantitative
analysis.
Schematically, a beam of monochromatic light is divided by a beam splitter (a transparent
sheet at an angle). The divided beams reach two mirrors, are returned and recombined by
respectively transmission and reflection at the beam splitter. Their relative phase produces
an interference pattern in the combined beam.

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year
Schematic of the Michelson-Morley experiment. A beam of light (actually continuous,
not pulsed as in the animation below) is split when it strikes a transparent plate: part
is transmitted, part reflected. When the two divided beams return to the block, partial
reflection and partial transmission also combines them.
Following Galilean/Newtonian physics, let us suppose that light travels (at c) with respect to
a 'stationary' medium (called the ther). For our purposes, suppose that it be set up
with l1 = l2 and that the whole spectrometer be stationary with respect to the ther, the
medium that supports the wave motion of light. Let's consider a point in the interference
pattern at which the phase differene is zero. This is the situation shown at left.
Now suppose that it move to the right at speed v with respect to ther. Picture this from a
frame at rest in the ther (middle diagram). The transit times are no longer equal, but for
the horizontal and near vertical directions are given by:

By rotating the spectrometer 90 degrees, one can compare the effect of speed through the
putative ther on one of the beams. Then by making measurements six months apart, one
can add or subtract the speed of the Earth through ther. The speed of the Earth in its orbit
around the sun is v = 30 km/s. Substituting in the equations above (and using l = 11 m - for
an optical spectrometer, it was a seriously large!) the phase difference expected would be
= 2t(c/) = 2.3 radians = 0.4 fringes.
The spectrometer was easily sensitive enough to see this*. However, the result was: 0.00
plus or minus 0.01 fringes.

Q.2. Explain angular momentum for a system of particles.

Ans: Angular momentum for a system of particles:

Angular momentum is a vector quantity (more precisely, a pseudo vector) that

represents the product of a body's rotational inertia and rotational velocity about a
particular axis

let a system of particles is made up of n number of particles. Let ri be the position

vector of the ith particle P with respect to a point O and vi be its velocity .let Rcm be
the position vector of center of mass C of the system with respect to the origin
Let ri' and vi' be the position vector and velocity vector of the ith particle with respect
to center of mass of the system.
Angular momentum of the system of particles with respect to origin is given by

Angular momentum of the system of particles with respect to center of mass of the system
is given by

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year

Hence the angular momentum of the system of the particles with respect to point O is
equal to the sum of the angular momentum of the center of mass of the particles about O
and angular monentum of the system about center of mass

Law of conservation of angular momentum

Torque acting on any particle is given by

If external torque acting on any particle os zero then,

Hence in absence of external torque the angular momentum of the particle remains
constant or conserved.

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year

Total torque acting on any system is given by

If total external force acting on any particle system is zero or,

If total external torque acting on any body is zero, then total angular momentum of
the body remains constant or conserved.

Q.3.Differentiate general and special theory of relativity.

Ans: Difference Between General Theory of Relativity and Special
Theory of
Relativity.
General Theory of
Relativity

Special Theory of
Relativity

1.

General Relativity is the theory

that that aforementioned four
dimensional manifold has
curvature, and that curvature is
induced by the presence of
mass/energy in space-time

2.

General relativity is called such

because it can be applied
generally.

Special relativity is the theory that

space-time is a four-dimensional
manifold with metric signature
(+,-,-,-). It explains the speed of
light having a maximum, time
dilation, relativistic effects, and
energy-mass-equivalence.
Special relativity is called special
simply because it is a special case
of general relativity.

3.

General relativity deals with

everything else - inertial frames
of reference WRT low velocities,
and also with mass interactions
involved.
General relativity deals with
[STRIKE] accelerating reference
frames and [/STRIKE] curved
space....

Special relativity deals with the

rather specific application of
inertial frames of reference WRT
very high velocities.

General relativity applies to all

coordinate systems.

Special relativity applies only to

coordinate systems which
correspond to inertial frames

4.

5.

Special relativity deals with

[STRIKE] inertial reference frames
and[/STRIKE] flat space.

Q.5. What do you understand bye Hamiltons variation principle?

Explain it.
Ans:

Hamiltons variation principle:

It states that the dynamics of a physical

system is determined by a variation problem for a functional based on a single function,

the Lagrangian, which contains all physical information concerning the system and the
forces acting on it. The variation problem is equivalent to and allows for the derivation of
the differential equations of motion of the physical system. Although formulated originally
for classical mechanics, Hamilton's principle also applies to classical fields such as the

Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods in

Physics
MSc Physics 1st Year
electromagnetic and gravitational fields,

and

has

even

been

extended

to mechanics,

quantum and criticality theories.

Explanation of Hamiltons variation principle:

Illustration of the variation in a generalized q between times t1and t2.

Hamilton's principle states that the true evolution q(t) of a system
described by N
Generalized coordinates q = (q1, q2, ..., qN) between two specified
and q2 = q(t2) at two specified times t1 and t2 is a stationary point

states q1 = q(t1)

(A point where the variation is zero), of the action functional

where

is the Lagrangian function for the system.

In other words, any first-order perturbation of the true evolution results in (at
most) second-order changes in . The action
is a functional,
i.e., something that takes as its input a function and returns a single number, a scalar. In
terms of functional analysis, Hamilton's principle states that the true evolution of a
physical system is a solution of the functional equation
Hamilton's
principle

Hamilton's principle is an important variation principle in electrodynamics. As

opposed to a system composed of rigid bodies, deformable bodies have an infinite number
of degrees of freedom and occupy continuous regions of space; consequently, the state of
the system is described by using continuous functions of space and time. The extended
Hamilton Principle for such bodies is given by

where T is the kinetic energy, U is the elastic energy, We is the work done by external loads
on the body, and t1, t2 the initial and final times. If the system is conservative, the work done
by external forces may be derived from a scalar potential V. In this case,

This is called Hamilton's principle and it is invariant under coordinate

transformations.