PHY101: Introduction to Physics-1

Monsoon, 2019

Tutorial-8

1. The motion of a damped oscillator driven by an applied force F0 cos ωt is given by xa(t) = X0
cos (ωt + φ), where X0 and φ have their usual meaning. Consider an oscillator that is released from
rest at t = 0. Its motion must satisfy x(0) = 0, v(0) = 0, but after a very long time, we expect
that x(t) = xa(t). To satisfy these conditions we can take as the solution
x(t) = xa(t) + xb(t),
where xb(t) is the solution to the equation of motion of the free damped oscillator.

(a) Show that if xa(t) satisfies the equation of motion for the driven damped oscillator, then so does
x(t) = xa(t) + xb(t), where xb(t) satisfies the equation of motion of the free damped oscillator.

(b) Choose the arbitrary constants in xb(t) so that x(t) satisfies the initial conditions. (Note that A
and φ here are arbitrary.)

2. A billiard ball with speed v approaches an identical stationary one. The balls
bounce off each other elastically, in such a way that the incoming one gets
deflected by an angle θ. What are the final speeds of the balls? What is the angle,
φ, at which the stationary ball is ejected?

3. A mass of 5000 kg moves on a straight line from a speed of 540 km/hr to 720
km/hr in 2 minutes. What is the impulse developed in this time?

4. Find the centroid of a semi-circular region of radius a using (a) Cartesian coordinate system and
(b) polar coordinate system.