PH 201 – CLASSICAL MECHANICS (Aug. – Dec.

2019)
Problem sheet – 1
1. Find out whether the force F~ = yz î + zx ĵ + xy k̂ is conservative or not.
2. Obtain the equation of motion for a simple pendulum with mass m attached to the end of a string
with length l.
(a) Find out the time period of oscillations when the oscillation amplitude a is small i.e. a  1.
(b) If the amplitude a is not very small, the time period is a function of a. Show that, the first
correction to the simple result is given by
s 
a2

l 4
T = 2π 1+ + O(a ) .
g 16
3. A surface of revolution has two given parallel rings as its boundary. What should be the shape of
the surface such that it has the minimal surface area ?
4. A geodesic is a curve that represents the shortest path between two points in any space. Find the
geodesics on the surface of a sphere.
5. A particle of mass m moves in one dimension and is described by the Lagrangian
1
L = m2 ẋ4 + m ẋ2 V (x) − V 2 (x),
12
where V is some differentiable function of x.
(a) Find the equation of motion for the particle.
(b) Describe the physical nature of the system on the basis of the equation of motion.
6. A Lagrangian for a particular system can be written as
m
α
a ẋ2 + 2 b ẋ ẏ + c ẏ 2 − a x2 + 2 b x y + c y 2 ,


L=
2 2
where a, b and c are arbitrary constants, but subject to the condition that (b2 − ac) 6= 0.
(a) Obtain the equations of motion corresponding to the above Lagrangian and examine the two
cases a = c = 0 and b = 0, c = −a.
(b) Identify the physical system described by this Lagrangian. What is the significance of the
condition on the value of (b2 − ac).
7. Using the method of Lagrange multipliers, solve the problem of the Atwood’s machine, as shown
in Figure 1. What new information do you get using this method ?
8. Consider a coplanar double pendulum as shown on the left in Figure 2. Construct the Lagrangian of
the system and obtain the equations of motion and the conserved quantities. Describe the dynamics
of two masses m1 and m2 .
9. Consider a simple pendulum of mass m2 , with a mass m1 at the point of support which can move
on a horizontal line lying in the plane in which m2 moves as shown on the right in Figure 2. Obtain
the Lagrangian of the system, equations of motion and the conserved quantities.

1
Figure 1: Atwood’s machine (for problem 7)

Figure 2: Figures for problem 8 and 9