Physics 303/573

Practice FinalReview session: Friday, December 4, 4:05-?? in our classroom

Real final is at: December 8, 8:30-11:00PM in our classroom. This practice final is much longer
than the real final.

Formulas
Summation convention: repeated indices are implicit summations. qi pi

i qi p i

, etc.

Euler-Lagrange: If qi (t) obeys the set of differential equations

Z
d L
L
=
for all i
S = L dt is extremized.
dt qi
qi
Here L({qi }, {qi }, t) = T U is the Lagrangian and
L
is the generalized force acting in the i direction.
qi
Symmetries: If there exist transformations of qi (t) with a constant parameter ,
qi (t) = Ri (qj (t), qj (t)) such that L(qi , qi ) =
then the Noether charge Q =
equations are obeyed.
Conjugate momenta: pi =

d
L
K(qi , qi ) and if
=0
dt
t

L
Ri K is conserved (independent of time) when the Euler-Lagrange
qi
L
qi

Hamiltonian: H = pi qi L

Figure 1: Cylindrical polar coordinates:

+ z z.
~r = x
x + y y + z z = RR
2
2
2
Length: r = R + z .
Kinetic energy in cylindrical polar
coordinates: T = 12 m(R 2 + R2 2 + z 2 ).

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Damped harmonic oscillator: (damping proportional to the velocity):

x
+ 2 x + 02 x = 0 has solutions x(t) = (xmax )et cos(t + ) where 2 = 02 2 .
The energy is E(t) = 21 m(x 2 + 02 x2 ).
Driven damped harmonic oscillator:
x
+ 2 x + 02 x =

1
1
F
F eiF t has special solution x(t) = AF eiF t where AF =
2
2
m
m 0 F + 2iF

transient solutions are determined by boundary conditions. System is linear so solutions superpose.
m1~r1 + m2~r2
. Total mass: M = m1 + m2 .
M
m1 m2
Relative coordinate: ~r = ~r1 ~r2 . Reduced mass: =
.
M
1
1
d~r1
d~r2
Kinetic energy: T = (m1 |~v1 |2 + m2 |~v2 |2 ) = (M |~vcm |2 + |~v |2 ), where ~v1 =
, ~v2 =
, the center of
2
2
dt
dt
d~rcm
d~r
mass velocity is ~vcm =
, the relative velocity is ~v = .
dt
dt

Two-body system: ~rcm =

1. a) Using the definition of the curl in terms of circulation, compute the formula for the curl in cylindrical
polar coordinates.
b) Find the circulation along a horizontal circle with radius= a, and center on the z-axis at a height z = h
for the vector field
+ z + R sin
~v = z cos R
z
by direct computation.
c) Compute the curl of ~v .
d) Integrate the curl of ~v over a flat disk bounded by the circle and show that it agrees with the circulation
that you calculated above.

2. a) Using the definition of the divergence in terms of flux, compute the formula for the divergence in
spherical polar coordinates.
b) Find the flux through a sphere with radius=a for the vector field
~v = r(1 + sin )
r + r cos + r sin sin
by direct computation. c) Compute the divergence of ~v .
d) Integrate the divergence of ~v over the volume and show that it agrees with the flux that you calculated
above.

3. a) Consider a lens made out of glass with a index of refraction n. Assume that the back is flat (planar)
and that the front has an arbitrary rotationally symmetric shape, y(x) with y(x0 ) = 0 (because of the
rotational symmetry, we take z = 0). Assume that the back of the lens is at x = 0. Use Fermats principle
to find the shape y(x) that the lens must have so that all the rays leaving a point x = f on the axis of
rotation are focussed by the lens in such a way that they are parallel to the axis and reach a flat screen
that is perpendicular to the axis at the same time. (Hintthe shape is NOT parabolic, and the answer
will depend on n and x0 ).
b) Suppose that you put two such lenses back to back along their flat faces; where would light leaving the
same point as above be focussedmake a sketch to show this.

4. Consider a three dimensional harmonic oscillator with a nonlinear force such that the potential is
1
1k 3
U = kr2
r
2
3`
where ` is some constant.
a) Calculate the force.
b) What is the Lagrangian for this system?
c) What are the Euler-Lagrange equations?
d) Find the effective potential.
e) What kind of orbits are possibleconsider both small angular momentum and large angular momentum.
f) When they exist, find the radii of possible circular orbits as a function of the angular momentum.
g) Which, if any of these orbits are stable?
h) For stable orbits, what is the frequency of small oscillations around these orbits?

5. a) Using the relation between an inertial frame and a frame fixed to our earth (ignoring the the orbital
motion around the sun), derive the expressions for the Coriolis force and centrifugal forces as a function
of the latitude.
b) In which direction will the Coriolis force act on an airplane flying due north at constant altitude at a
latitude ?
6. Consider a thin square ` ` slab with a uniformly distributed mass m two thirds of the way up a
uniform rod with length R and mass M attached to its center.
a) Find the center of mass of this system.
b) Find the moment of inertia tensor about the center of mass.

7. Consider an damped driven harmonic oscillator with a mass m, a damping force with a coefficient
2m, < 0 , a spring constant m02 , and a driving force F (t) = m[sin(20 t) + 12 cos(30 t)].
a) Find a particular solution.
b) Now find the transients (solutions to the equation without a driving force) that guarantee that the
initial position and velocity are zero: x(0) = v(0) = 0.
c) Do the transients ever die out? Does the particular solution die out? If there were no damping term,
would the transients die out? Would the particular solution die out?

8. Consider a mass m attached to three identical springs with spring constant k as shown in the figure:

1
2
3
2
a) Write down the Lagrangian in cylindrical polar coordinates (no gravity acts, and the springs are ideal,
that is they have unstretched length= 0).
b) Write down the Euler-Lagrange equations.
c) What can you say about the solution?