Engineering Physics 2CD4 course notes, McMaster University, Dr. Minnick, Fall 2022.

Reference texts:
1) Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Brooks Cole, 9th Edition, Serway & Jewett, 978-
1133947271 (or any edition) (for this first topic)
2) Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics by Hibbler (for topics 1-3)

0 Introduction
ENGPHYS 2CD4 is a course on the dynamics aspect of mechanics; the study of motion and its
causes. It is a continuation of first year mechanics (PHYSICS 1D03 for engineering students at
McMaster university). You will gain a deeper understanding of the material from first year
physics, and extend this to more difficult problems and topics. In addition to that, we also study
how to solve mechanics problems using computers from two different software platforms: Maple
and FlexPDE. Maple is a multipurpose computer algebra system while FlexPDE is a scripted
finite element method solver. There will be some problems that you can solve 3 ways: by hand,
using Maple, and using FlexPDE. We'll also look at problems that are impossible to solve by
hand but no problem for Maple, and eventually at even more complicated problems which are
extremely difficult in Maple but no problem for FlexPDE. By learning all 3 strategies, you'll be
able to solve many more problems than you could with any one of them alone.

Materials required:
1. A computer with Maple (version 11 or newer) and FlexPDE6s (which is free:
https://www.pdesolutions.com/v6student.html)
2. (optional) Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway, 4 th edition (or newer) (helpful
for this topic)
3. (optional) a level 2 dynamics textbook like one of the following:
a. Vector Mechanics for Engineers by Beer
b. Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics by Plesha
c. Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics by Hibbler
0.1 Overview of material: Why Study Mechanics?

https://d18l82el6cdm1i.cloudfront.net/image_optimizer/c29cae44a944374258170057f8223712b5fec498.jpg

How does this generate force? How does it move in time & space?

Rosetta Probe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(spacecraft)

The 3 (or more)-body dynamics problem has no analytical solution! Need to use computers.

Resonance:

Animated version: https://motherboard-images.vice.com/content-images/contentimage/27623/1448671977611460.gif

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Forced_Vibration_Response.png

1 Newton's Laws, Momentum, Energy, and Angular Motion

This section is a review of & expansion on content from first year mechanics, adding in second
year understanding and some additional tips & tricks.

1.1 Physics and Measurement

The three fundamental physical quantities of mechanics are length, mass, and time, which in the
SI system have units: metres (m), kilograms (kg), and seconds (s), respectively. Prefixes
indicating various powers of ten are used with these three basic units. The density of a substance
is defined as its mass per unit volume. Different substances have different densities mainly
because of differences in their atomic masses and atomic arrangements.

The method of dimensional analysis (also called the factor label method) is a very powerful tool
in solving physics problems. Dimensions can be treated as algebraic quantities. By making
estimates and making order-of-magnitude calculations, you should be able to approximate the
answer to a problem when there is not enough information available to completely specify an
exact solution.

Check Your Understanding

If a car with 20" diameter wheels is travelling 80 km/h while the motor is at 2000 rpm, find
the ratio of motor's shaft rotation to wheel rotations (the wheel-to-engine gear ratio).

Solution:
Every time the wheels do one revolution, the car travels one wheel-circumference forward.

Therefore: .
The question asks for the ratio of the engine to wheel rotations:
1.1.1 SI Prefixes
Power Prefix Abbreviation Power Prefix Abbreviation
101 deka da 10-1 deci d
10 2
hecta h 10 -2
centi c
103 kilo k 10-3 milli m
106 mega M 10-6 micro
10 9
giga G 10 -9
nano n
1012 tera T 10-12 pico p
10 15
peta P 10 -15
femto f
1018 exa E 10-18 atto a
1021 zetta Z 10-21 zepto z
10 24
yotta Y 10-24 yocto y
Memorize the highlighted ones. (Memorize the other ones too if you want to show off.)

1.1.1.1 Question: mm3/m3

How many cubic mm are in 1 cubic m?

Solution:

1.1.1.2 Question: m3/L

The litre (L) is also a metric unit: it's 10n m on each side (where n is an integer), and therefore is
a cubic-_meter. Determine n and _.
(Hint: how big is a 2 L bottle of Coke?)

Solution: picture half of a 2 L Coke bottle reshaped to be a cube of liquid. Then consider
whether the dimension is:
10 m: WAAAY too big.
1 m: Too big
0.1 m: About right
1 cm: Too small
1 mm: WAAAY too small

Therefore, 1 L must be 10-1 m on each side, and therefore is a cubic-decimeter

1.1.1.3 Question: kg/L of water

The metric system was originally based on water density, so the density of 1 L of water works
out nicely as 10n kg, for integer n. Determine n.

Solution:
1 kg is 2.2 lbs. Considering that 2L coke bottle refilled with water, should half of it be:
100 kg = 220 lbs: WAY too much
10 kg = 22 lbs: too much
1 kg = 2.2 lbs: believable
0.1 kg = 0.22 lbs: too small
0.01 kg = 0.022 lbs: waaay too small

Therefore, 1L of water = 100 kg = 1 kg.

1.1.1.4 Question: Size of 1 g of water

How big is 1 g of water?

Solution:

Therefore, 1 g of water takes up 1 cubic cm of space.

1.2 Motion in One Dimension

After a particle moves along the x axis from some initial position to some final position ,
its displacement is:

The average velocity of a particle during some time interval is the displacement divided by
the time interval during which that displacement occurred:

The average speed of a particle is equal to the ratio of the total distance it travels to the total time
it takes to travel that distance.

The instantaneous velocity of a particle is defined as the limit of the ratio as

approaches zero. By definition, this limit equals the derivative of x with respect to t, or the time
rate of change of the position:
The instantaneous speed of a particle is equal to the magnitude of its instantaneous velocity.

The average acceleration of a particle is defined as the ratio of the change in its velocity
divided by the time interval during which that change occurred:

The instantaneous acceleration is equal to the limit of the ratio as approaches zero.
By definition, this limit equals the derivative of with respect to t, or the time rate of change of
the velocity:

The equations of kinematics (i.e., equations that describe how something moves without directly
considering forces that cause that motion) for a particle moving along the x axis with uniform
acceleration (constant in magnitude and direction) are

You should be able to use these equations and the definitions in this chapter to analyze the
motion of any object moving with constant acceleration.

An object falling freely in the presence of the Earth’s gravity experiences a free-fall acceleration
directed toward the centre of the Earth. If air resistance is neglected, if the motion occurs near
the surface of the Earth, and if the range of the motion is small compared with the Earth’s radius,
then the free-fall acceleration g is constant over the range of motion, where g is equal to
9.80m/s2.

Extra info for level 2:

Especially when the path isn't straight line, we'll also use the symbol s for displacement:
In general, whether constant acceleration or not, the kinematic equations are these definitions:

The third one is not independent of the first 2 (it comes from dividing the second by the first),
but it is often a useful way to solve problems if you don't need to know when something happens,
just where it does (e.g., what's the speed when the block gets to this point on the ramp?).
This last equation also makes it easier to derive the last of constant-velocity kinematic equation

above, :

1.2.1.1 Question: For the Watch!

You drop a 5 kg bowling ball off of the Great Wall of China (8 m height) at some invading
Mongolians. How fast is it falling when it hits the Mongolian, who's head is 2 m off the ground
on horseback?

The Mongolians also have Frost Giants, who stand 4 m tall. How fast is the bowling ball when it
hits a Frost Giant?

Solution:
General:

Mongolian:

Frost Giant:
1.3 Vectors
Scalar quantities are those that have only magnitude and no associated direction. Vector
quantities have both magnitude and direction and obey the laws of vector addition.

We can add two vectors A and B graphically, using either the triangle method or the
parallelogram rule. In the triangle method the resultant vector runs from the tail of A
to the tip of B. In the parallelogram method R is the diagonal of a parallelogram having A and B
as two of its sides.

The x component of the vector A is equal to the projection of A along the x axis of a
coordinate system, as shown below, where . The y component of A is the
projection of A along the y axis, where .

If a vector A has an x component and a y component , the vector can be expressed in unit-
vector form as . In this notation, i is a unit vector pointing in the positive x
direction, and j is a unit vector pointing in the positive y direction. Because i and j are unit

vectors, .

We can find the resultant of two or more vectors by resolving all vectors into their x and y
components, adding their resultant x and y components, and then using the Pythagorean theorem
to find the magnitude of the resultant vector. We can find the angle that the resultant vector
makes with respect to the x axis by using a suitable trigonometric function.

Additional Information for 2CD4:

Triangle bracket notation:

Column vector notation:

A linear combination of a set of vectors is any sum of multiples of them, e.g.,

1.3.1.1 Question:
Find: in Cartesian and polar form

Find: in Cartesian and polar form

Solutions:

similarly,

1.4 Trig primer

You need to know:
1. The fundamental trig identity:
2. The parity of sine and cosine:
a. : sine is odd
 b. : cos is even
3. Sum angle formulas for sine and cosine:
a.
b.
4. SOHCAHTOA
a. and the unit circle, and the special triangles
5. the 1 over functions:

a. , ,
6. Derivatives of sine and cosine:

a. ,

To get the fundamental trig identity for tan & sec, do this:
1.5 Motion in Two Dimensions
Kinematic Equations

If a particle moves with constant acceleration a and has velocity and position at , its
velocity and position vectors at some later time t are

For two-dimensional motion in the plane under constant acceleration, each of these vector
expressions is equivalent to two component expressions – one for the motion in the x direction
and one for the motion in the y direction.

Aside for 2CD4:

Remember that kinematic equations are true as long as a is a constant (e.g.,

). They follow from directly integrating the definitions of velocity

and acceleration:

Projectile motion is one type of two-dimensional motion under constant acceleration, where
and . It is useful to think of projectile motion as the superposition of two
motions:
1. Constant-velocity motion in the x direction: and
2. Free-fall motion in the vertical direction subject to a constant downward acceleration of

magnitude : (assuming up is positive)

where is the angle that the initial velocity vector makes with the x axis.
A particle moving in a circle of radius r with a constant speed v is in uniform circular motion.
It undergoes a centripetal (or radial) acceleration because the direction of changes in time.
The magnitude of is:

and its direction is always toward the centre of the circle.

If a particle moves along a curved path in such a way that both the magnitude and the direction
of v change in time, then the particle has an acceleration vector that can be described by two
component vectors:

1. a radial component vector (points towards the centre of curvature) that causes the change
in direction of v and
2. a tangential component vector (points in the direction of motion) that causes the change in
magnitude of v.

The magnitude of is , and the magnitude of is .

In other words, radial acceleration changes direction but not speed, while tangential acceleration
changes speed but not direction. Cars have separate controls for radial and tangential
acceleration - steering wheel and pedals.

The velocity v of a particle measured in a fixed frame of reference S can be related to the
velocity of the same particle measured in a moving frame of reference by

Where is the velocity of relative to S.

1.5.1 Extra info for level 2: Curved Motion with Unit Tangent and Normal
Vectors
It's often useful in problems with curved trajectories to describe unit vectors that point in the
normal and tangent direction to motion, and , so that you can write

where is the speed and is the distance to the centre of curvature (labelled O' in the
image below).

You can derive this result (and get practice understanding how and themselves change with
time) for general curvilinear motion (i.e., motion that may curve without following a circular
path in general) by considering acceleration over a small displacement ds (from Hibbeler, 12.7):

The change in the unit tangent is only an angle change (not length change), and can only change

in the direction of unit normal, based on the curvature:

Therefore , where is tangential acceleration and

is normal acceleration. Since these components are perpendicular, total magnitude of

acceleration is

By the way, in Math 2ZZ3 you'll hear that the "unit binormal" vector is ,
perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of motion.
Also, that if you can write a function for the particle's path then the radius of curvature

at any point is
1.5.1.1 Question:
A highway off-ramp takes cars through a 90o direction change. It has multiple lanes, and so cars
in different lanes experience a different angular acceleration.
1. Which lane is the fastest to take if it's a sunny day and you're limited by the speed limit?
2. Which lane is the fastest to take if it's a rainy day, and you're limited by the friction
connecting your tires to the road?

Solutions:
1) fastest lane is the shortest distance, which is the inner radius, since arclength is .

Time taken is .
→ The inner radius lane is faster according to r.

2) Acceleration needed is . Distance travelled is , and time is .

Since now the limit is , we should sub in v:

so
→ The inner radius lane is still faster, but not by as much of a factor since you need to
go slower there for a given acceleration limit.

1.6 Essential Maple Syntax

In this course we're solving problems with Maple's help during the tests so you need to become
at least a level 3 Maple Master (which is about as powerful as a dire badger). Here's a series of
maple scripts you'll want to run for some practice. The following is an excerpt from the
Essential Maple Syntax file. For more information, check out that file!

To run a script,
1. Make sure you're reading this in Word or Open Office and not within Avenue (because
copying from ATL can insert extra line breaks that will make the code not work)
2. Copy the code into Maple (any version ≥ 11; or probably even earlier ones), but don't
copy the '>' sign in (because you'll end up with 2 of them and the code won't work)
3. Press enter from within the executable block of the code (i.e., with your cursor
somewhere within the code you copied; it's called an executable group because maple
executes all of it when you hit enter.)
a. Note that shift-enter is the command to insert a new line without executing
the block
b. ctrl-j will insert a new executable block after the current one.

Basic Assignment:
> restart;
x=5; #an equation
x+3; #x is not defined
x:=5; #defines x as 5
x+3; #x is still 5
x:=7: #x is now 7, but : means the output is suppressed so maple
doesn't tell you about it
x+3;

Optional: To make the font look like this when you copy it, change the input from 2D Input to
Maple Input. You can do that by:
1. Using the drop-down menu that shows up when you're about to start typing:

, or
2. By pressing ctrl-m (ctrl-r is the hotkey to change it back to 2D Input), or
3. By making Maple Input the default globally: Tools->Options->Display->Input Display
– change to Maple Input, apply globally, or
4. By using Maple versions 8-12 or so in "classic worksheet mode", or
5. By using Maple version 5 or older where 2d input hadn't been invented yet.

For all of these scripts you can quadruple your learning if instead of just running them you
change them around after and predict what the output will be to really get a feeling for what the
commands are doing. Please post to the discussion board on ATL if you have any problems or
discover anything awesome. Feel free to answer questions of other students on there too - they
really appreciate it!

Using % in equations:
restart;
3;
%; #most recent thing executed; like pressing ANS on your calculator
x+7:
%*2; #doesn't matter if the output was suppressed
1:
2:
3:
%%; #2 answers ago
%%%; #3 answers ago
#%%%%; #doesn't work, so comment this line out

evalf & simplify

restart;
Pi+sqrt(2);
evalf(%); #evaluate as a floating point number
(x-7)^2-(x-4)^2;
simplify(%); #try to expand & clean up expression

Differentiating and integrating:

restart;
y:=x^2;
y+7;
diff(y, x); #partial derivative
int(y,x); #indefinite integral, but no arbitrary constant added
int(y,x=0..2); #definite integral

Basic plotting & lists

restart;
plot(x^2, x=0..1); #Plot y = x^2 from x = 0 to x = 1
plot([x^2, x, sqrt(x)], x=0..1); #plot 3 functions
MyList := [x^2, x, sqrt(x)]; #Square brackets mean a list, round brackets mean a
function's argument
plot(MyList, x=-1..1); #Just like giving the plot command the function list directly

Basic equation solving & root finding

restart;
eqn:=4=3*tan(theta) - 9.81/2/10^2*3^2/(cos(theta))^2; #an equation
eqn;
rhs(eqn); #right hand side
lhs(eqn);
solve(eqn);
solve(rhs(eqn)=0); #solving a different equation
solve(rhs(eqn)); #assumes you mean = 0 if you give solve only half of an equation
plot(rhs(eqn), theta=-Pi..Pi); #note that Pi = 3.14159, but pi and PI are initially
undefined variables.
plot(rhs(eqn), theta=-Pi..Pi, y = -1..1); #Restrict the vertical range
fsolve(rhs(eqn)); #numeric solve; only finds one root and does it numerically (using
something like Newton's Method for Approximating Roots)
fsolve(rhs(eqn), theta = 1..2); #with fsolve you can specify a range to look for the
root; use plots to figure out where to look

Parametric plotting & sublisting

restart;
plot([cos(theta),sin(theta)], theta=0..3*Pi/2); #plot 2 functions: y = cos(theta) and
y = sin(theta) from theta = 0..3*Pi/2
plot([cos(theta),sin(theta), theta=0..3*Pi/2]); #plot 1 parametric function: x =
cos(theta), y = sin(theta) from theta = 0..3*Pi/2
plot([[cos(theta),sin(theta), theta=0..3*Pi/2], [x^3/4, x*cos(x), x=-Pi/2..Pi/2]]);
#plot 2 parametric functions; argument is now a list of lists
LOL:=[[cos(theta),sin(theta), theta=0..3*Pi/2], [x^3/4, x*cos(x), x=-Pi/2..Pi/2]];
LOL[1]; #Sublist1
LOL[2];
LOL[1][3]; #listception
LOL[1][3][2]; #too deep, can't sublist an equation
rhs(LOL[1][3]); #can find its RHS though

Solving multiple equations in multiple unknowns

restart;
Eqn1:=x^2+3*x*y=0:
Eqn2:=y-2*x = 7:
solve([Eqn1, Eqn2]); #solve 2 equations in 2 unknowns; output is in random order
solve([Eqn1, Eqn2], [x,y]); #solve 2 equations in 2 unknowns, and always output x
before y in the list
solve(Eqn2, x); #solve 1 equation in 2 unknowns for the variable you want
Eqn3:=z*2+x*y-y^2=1:
solve([Eqn2, Eqn3], [x,z]); #specify several variables to solve for
op(%); #open a list. removes brackets
%[1]; #again
x;
assign(%%); #executes x:=y/2-7/2
x;

Function declaration & Multiple assignment

restart;
x:=t->t^2-2; #function assignment
x; #x is a function
x(2);
x(Pi);
x(y);
evalf(x(Pi)); #evaluate as a floating point number
Soln:=solve(x(tf) = 0);
t1,t2:=Soln; #multiple assignment
t1;
t2;
plot(x(t), t=t1..t2);
x(steve); #functions will sub whatever you type into them
t1,t2:=solve(x(steve)=2);
plot(x(frank), frank=t1..t2);
x(x(y)+2); #compound function evaluation

Substitute; an alternative to function declaration

restart:
x:=t^2-2; #Declaration
x; #x is t^2-2:
subs(t=2, x); #substitute t = 2 into x:
subs(t=Pi, x);
subs(t=y, x);
evalf(subs(t=Pi, x));
Soln:=solve(subs(t=tf, x)=0);
t1,t2:=Soln; #multiple assignment
t1;
t2;
plot(x, t=t1..t2);
subs(t=steve, x);
t1,t2:=solve(%=2);
plot(subs(t=frank, x), frank=t1..t2);
subs(t=subs(t=y,x)+2, x); #compound function evaluation is a lot harder to read using
subs instead of function declaration

Sums & Products; discrete math

restart:
sum(1/n, n=1..5); #1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + 1/5
product(n, n=1..5); #1*2*3*4*5
D operator (advanced derivative operator needed for specifying initial conditions when solving
differential equations)
restart;
x:=t->t^3+3*t^2+t+7;
v:=D(x); #alternative derivative notation
v(t);
v0:=D(x)(0); #D has the ability to write derivative at a point
a:=D[1,1](x); #second derivative;
a0:=D[1,1](x)(0);
f:=(x,y)->x^2+2*x*y^2+y^3; #function of 2 variables;
f(1,y);
fsubx:=D[1](f); #partial derivative of f wrt x
fsuby:=D[2](f); #partial derivative of f wrt y
fsubxyy:=D[1,2,2](f);
D[1,2,2](g)(x,y); #D doesn't need to know what the function yet; in that case it just
doesn't evaluate it
convert(%,diff);

Differential Equation Solving:

restart:
DE:=diff(x(t),t,t)+4*diff(x(t),t)+4*x(t)=sin(t); #A differential equation
ICs:=x(0)=3, D(x)(0)=0; #Initial conditions x(0)=0 & x'(0) =0
dsolve([DE, ICs]);
assign(%):
plot(x(t),t=0..10);
t1:=fsolve(x(t)=0, t=3..5);
t2:=fsolve(x(t)=0, t=6..8);
v:=t->diff(x(t),t); #velocity
a:=t->diff(v(t),t); #acceleration
plot([x(t),v(t),a(t)], t=0..10, -3..3); #how do they all change in time?

1.7 The Laws of Motion

1.7.1 Newton’s Laws of Motion

Newton's First Law: In the absence of an external force, a body at rest remains at rest and a
body in uniform motion in a straight line maintains that motion.
 An inertial frame is one that is not accelerating.

Eg: An object not moving at all will not start moving unless a force is acted upon it.
Eg: Objects moving along a surface will eventually slow down and stop due to the unbalanced
frictional force acting upon it.
If , then

Newton's Second Law: The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force
acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass.
 The net force acting on an object equals the product of its mass and its acceleration:

.
 The same relationship holds for the components of force and acceleration in a specific

direction, such as x or y: ,
  If an object is either stationary or moving with constant velocity (there is no net
acceleration), then the forces must vectorially cancel each other out (there is no net
force): 0 net acceleration 0 net force.
That is, .

We can write the second law in a few different ways .

Statics is the study of systems where a = 0 (and therefore so is v in some appropriate reference
frame), while dynamics is the study of systems where .

Newton's Third Law: If two objects interact, then the force exerted by object 1 on object 2 is
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by object 2 on object 1.
 An isolated force cannot exist in nature.
 Application to Star Wars: Without the dark side there can be no light side.

That is, : the force of A on B is equal and opposite to the force of B on A.

Eg: A bird’s wings exert a force on the air downward. The reaction force is in the upward
direction, allowing the bird to fly.

1.7.1.1 H13.3: Equation of Motion for a System of Particles

Note that Newton's second law also works for a system of particles, in which case it relates total
external force to the acceleration of the centre of mass (internal forces all cancel since
they come in action-reaction pairs):

Following is a proof:
Consider particle i in a system of particles. Let be the net force on it from all of the other
particles and let be the net force on it from any other "external" sources (e.g., earth's gravity).
Then N2 relates its acceleration and mass to the sum of these net forces:

If we add these up for all the particles, we can see that it's also true for the whole system that:

But the vector sum of net internal forces cancel out to zero thanks to Newton's 3rd law (for every
force of particle 1 on particle 2 included there's also a force of particle 2 on particle 1 in this):

So, you can also say that the net external force alone equals the sum of masses & accelerations:
If you also define total mass and centre of mass: , then since masses are

all constant we also get , and therefore sum of the net external force on all
component particles equals total mass times the acceleration of the centre of mass:

1.7.2 Gravity (Near the Earth’s Surface)

The force of gravity exerted on an object is equal to the product of its mass (a scalar quantity)
and the free-fall acceleration: . The weight of an object is the magnitude of the force
of gravity acting on the object.

1.7.3 Friction

The maximum force of static friction between an object and a surface is proportional to the
normal force acting on the object. In general,

where represents the magnitude of the maximum force of static friction, is the coefficient
of static friction and n is the magnitude of the normal force.

When an object slides over a surface, the direction of the force of kinetic friction is opposite
the direction of sliding motion and is also proportional to the magnitude of the normal force.
The magnitude of this force is given by

where is the coefficient of kinetic friction.

Check Your Understanding

True or False: "Friction prevents motion."

Answer: False. Friction prevents relative motion between surfaces. Friction is ultimately the
force that causes your car to move forward, for example.
1.7.4 H13.4: Equations of Motion – Rectangular Coordinates
When moving relative to an inertial x,y,z frame of reference, can express forces and coordinates
of a particle in terms of their i, j, k components and solve the resulting 3 DEs for up to 3
unknowns:

Analysis procedure:
Create FBD
1. Select inertial coordinate system (likely x,y,z if the particle has rectilinear motion)
2. Draw FBD
3. Establish direction and sense of particle's acceleration (if unknown, typically set it as the
same positive direction as the coordinate axes)
4. Show the mass * acceleration direction on the particle's kinetic diagram.
5. Identify the unknowns
Eqns of Motion
1. use scalar form (i.e., separately solve x equations, y equations, & z equations rather than
1 vector equation) if forces are resolvable into components; otherwise, use vector
analysis.
2. Friction; assign in the direction opposing relative motion using kinetic if it's moving, and
static if it's not moving.
3. Spring: elastic spring opposes length change ( ) with proportional force,
Kinematics
1. If acceleration is constant, find a then apply kinematic equations to find velocity & time.
2. Otherwise, solve DEs to find them;
a. and if accel is function of time,
b. if accel is function of position.
3. If problem involves dependent motion of several particles, first relate their motion by
establishing constraint equations (e.g., how acceleration of one block is related to
acceleration of the other)
4. If you get a negative scalar, it means the actual motion is in the other direction (don't go
back and redefine it!)

1.7.4.1 Question:
If the blocks below are on a frictionless surface, where is the normal force between the blocks
higher?
Answer: in the second case.
The acceleration of the combined block system is the same in both cases, in case
1, but: in case 2 .

1.7.4.2 Question:
Two blocks are pulled along a frictionless horizontal surface by a force FP applied to the heavier
block (twice as massive as the lighter block):

What is the tension in the rope if the rope is massless?

Solution:
Everything has the same acceleration, so gives: and for each
block.

What is the tension in the rope if the rope has a mass per unit length of μ and length L?

Solution:
Now the tension changes with position. Newton's second law for each object:
Block M:
Rope:
Block 2M:
So:

Then:
Notice:

If , then .

Also, .
Since the mass of the rope per unit length is constant, the tension will increase linearly from left
to right as the pieces of rope have more and more mass to pull. Setting x = 0 at the left end:

Substituting our expressions for these tensions:

If the force gradually incrases until the rope breaks, where do you expect it to break first?

Solution: Where the tension is the highest: at the right end.

1.7.4.3 Question
If the force below is just enough to cause the block to move,

a) What is the coefficient of static friction between the block and the surface?

Solution:
If it's just enough to cause it to move, then we're at max static friction,
Force-balance in the vertical direction:

In the horizontal direction just as it overcomes static friction and starts moving:
For the numbers given here: .

b) What will be the block's acceleration?

Solution:
Once the block starts moving, friction changes to kinetic friction, . The acceleration is:

We can't answer specifically without knowing k.

c) What is the requirement for applied force F and angle for overcoming static friction?

Solution:
To overcome static friction, we need:

d) Which angle gives you the best chance of overcoming static friction?

Solution:
Continuing from the previous, the function on the left has a max when:
Therefore, if is very small, we want to apply the force horizontally. But as becomes large,
more and more vertical forces are better.
At , we have .

At this optimum location, we get:

To do this, we need to know how to take the trig of arc-trig functions. Since tan() takes an angle

and returns a side ratio, tan-1() takes a side ratio and returns an angle. Thus, if is an
angle in a triangle, the tan of this angle = opposite/adjacent = .

The hypotenuse is . Therefore:

and so:

This means our criteria to be able to move the block is that:

Analysis: the term on the right is always less than W. In the limit of extremely large we have
that , which means we can just lift up the object without dragging it.
If , we need very little force.

At (corresponding to an optimum angle of 45o), we have as the requirement.

e) Once the block is moving, which angle of force application gives the max acceleration, and
what is it?

Solution:

Coming back to part b): .

Max acceleration when .

This angle gives an acceleration of (using our trig of arc-trig results from d)):

Check Your Understanding

What is Newton's Second Law?

1.8 Circular Motion and Other Applications of Newton’s Laws

1.8.1 Centripetal Acceleration

A radial force is one that is directed perpendicular to the direction of motion of the object on
which the force acts. Newton’s second law applied to a particle moving in uniform circular
motion states that the net force causing the particle to undergo a centripetal acceleration is
that is, the sum of the forces in the radial direction (radial forces) is equal to the particle’s mass
times the radial acceleration, which is equal to the particle’s mass times the magnitude of the
velocity squared divided by the radius of the circle being moved in.

A particle in nonuniform circular motion has both a centripetal component of acceleration and a
nonzero tangential component of acceleration. In the case of a particle rotating in a vertical
circle, the force of gravity provides the tangential component of acceleration and part or all of
the centripetal component of acceleration.

1.8.2 Applying Newton’s Laws from a Non-inertial Reference Frame

An observer in a non-inertial (accelerating) frame of reference must introduce fictitious forces
when applying Newton’s second law in that frame. If these fictitious forces are properly defined,
the description of motion in the non-inertial frame is equivalent to that made by an observer in an
inertial frame. However, the observers in the two frames do not agree on the causes of the
motion.

1.8.3 Resistive Forces

A body moving through a liquid or gas experiences a resistive force that is speed-dependent.
This resistive force, which opposes the motion, generally increases with speed. The magnitude
of the resistive force depends on the shape of the body and on the properties of the medium
through which the body is moving. In the limiting case for a falling body, when the magnitude
of the resistive force equals the body’s weight, the body reaches its terminal speed.
(more on this later)

1.8.3.1 Question: How to Lose Weight on your Tropical Vacation!

Part 1:
Assuming the Earth is a perfect sphere with a radius of 6,371 km, find the fraction your effective
weight decreases by at the equator compared to the North pole due to the Earth's rotation.
(Hint: find the radial acceleration required to move in that circular path; then subtract this from g
to find the new acceleration that the normal force must oppose when you stand on a scale)

Solution:

Rotational period is

Velocity is .
Centripetal acceleration is: .

For the Earth: .

Taking , that's a relative change of: .

Part 2:
Wait! We forgot to consider the Earth's rotation around the Sun! At night, your solar centripetal
acceleration lines up with your terrestrial centripetal acceleration for MAXIMUM WEIGHT
LOSS! Calculate your solar centripetal acceleration.
(Hint: the sun is about 500 light seconds away, and the speed of light is about 300 million m/s)

Solution:

Sun distance:

Rotational period is

Centripetal acceleration is:

A relative change of .

Part 3:
Explain why the logic of Part 2 was faulty.

Solution: Our centripetal acceleration about the sun is caused by the gravitation force between
us and the sun; because the earth is orbiting the sun, we don't feel this acceleration, and it doesn't
affect scale readings.
This calculation tells us that if, instead of orbiting the sun, we were on the surface of a massless
Dyson Sphere of the Earth's orbital radius, we'd feel the sun's gravitational force, which would
be 0.06% of g.

Part 4: Where we're going, we don't need roads.

If you move fast enough that you're orbiting the Earth, you can travel forward without losing
altitude. How fast would this be? (Assume the earth is a sphere of radius 6371 km)
Express your answer in m/s, km/h, Mach number (fractions of the speed of sound, 343 m/s), and
fractions of the speed of light (300 Mm/s)
Solution: Set and solve for v.

Conversions:

1.8.4 H13.5: Eqns of motion: Normal and Tangential Coordinates

If particle moves along a curved path, it's helpful to break up force and acceleration components
into instantaneous tangential, normal (towards centre of curvature at that moment), and binormal
directions:

which requires:
Note that (tangent to the motion) is entirely responsible for the speed change and
(normal to the motion, towards centre of curvature) is entirely responsible for the direction
change. is often called the centripetal force.

If you know which curved path the particle is travelling on, then consider using normal and
tangential components for the analysis:
FBD
1. Set up inertial t,n,b coord system at the particle and draw its FBD
2. Particle's normal acceleration always acts in positive n direction
3. If tangential accel is unknown, assume in positive t direction
4. No accel in b direction
5. ID the unknowns
EQN of motion

-Apply
Kinematics

Formulate tangential and normal components of accel:

If path of particle is defined by curve then

1.9 Work and Kinetic Energy

1.9.1 Work –Constant Force

The work done by a constant force F acting on a particle is defined as the product of the
component of the force in the direction of the particle’s displacement and the magnitude of the
displacement. Given a force F that makes an angle with the displacement vector d of a
particle acted on by the force, the work done by F is

The unit for work is the Joule (J), defined as the product of a Newton and a metre:

1.9.2 Scalar Product

The scalar product (A.K.A. dot product) of two vectors A and B is defined by the relationship
where the result is a scalar quantity and is the angle between the two vectors. The scalar
product obeys the commutative and distributive laws.

1.9.2.1 Work –Varying Force

If a varying force does work on a particle as the particle moves along the x axis from to ,
you must use the expression

where is the component of force in the x direction. If several forces are acting on the particle,
the net work done by all of the forces is the sum of the amounts of work done by all of the
forces.

2CD4 extra information:

Work in General:
The real definition of the work done by force F on a particle moving along a path is:

Where is a differential displacement along the path. Over any one of those small
displacements the work done is (the displacement direction is changing over the
path and so is the force, but for any small enough displacement they're both constant), so the

total work is . This "integral over a path" is called a line integral (but probably
1.9.3 Kinetic Energy
The kinetic energy of a particle of mass m moving with a speed v (where v is small compared
with the speed of light) is

1.9.4 The Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem

The work-kinetic energy theorem states that the net work done on a particle by external forces
equals the change in kinetic energy of the particle:

1.9.5 Power
The instantaneous power P is defined as the time rate of energy transfer. If an agent applies a
force F to an object moving with a velocity v, the power delivered by that agent is
 2CD4 Extra Information
It's very important to distinguish between work done by something and work done on
something. The work done by you on a box is the force of you on the box dotted with the
box's displacement. Since , This is negative the work done by the box on you at
the same time.

1.10 Potential Energy and Conservation of Energy

1.10.1 Gravitational and Elastic Potential Energy

If a particle of mass m is at a distance y above the Earth’s surface, the gravitational potential
energy of the particle-Earth system is

The elastic potential energy stored in a spring of force constant k displaced a distance x from its
equilibrium position is

1.10.2 Conservative and Non-conservative Forces

A force is conservative if:
1. the work it does on a particle moving between two points is independent of the path the
particle takes between the two points.
2. the work it does on a particle is zero when the particle moves through an arbitrary closed
path and returns to its initial position.
e.g., Gravity is a conservative force.

A force that does not meet these criteria is said to be non-conservative.

e.g., Friction is a non-conservative force.

1.10.3 Potential Energy Functions

A potential energy function U can be associated only with a conservative force. If a
conservative force F acts on a particle that moves along the x axis from to , then the
change in the potential energy of the system equals the negative of the work done by that force:
 2CD4 Extra information:
You can rewrite this equation in differential form by taking a partial derivative of each side

This is also true in the y- and z- directions, , or in vector form:

1.10.4 Total Mechanical Energy

The total mechanical energy of a system is defined as the sum of the kinetic energy and the
potential energy:

If no external forces do work on a system and if no non-conservative forces are acting on objects
inside the system, then the total mechanical energy of the system is constant:

If non-conservative forces (such as friction) act on objects inside a system, then the mechanical
energy is not conserved. In these situations, the difference between the total final mechanical
energy and the total initial mechanical energy of the system equals the energy transferred to or
from the system by the non-conservative forces.

1.10.4.1 Question: Pendulum Energy

A simple pendulum with mass m is released with the string of length L held horizontal. What is
the maximum tension in the string?

Solution:
The tension at the bottom. Conservation of energy says:

Force balance at the bottom:

1.10.4.2 Question: Electric Potential Energy
In a uniform electric field (like between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor) an electron

experiences a force of . Determine the electron's potential energy function,

Solution:

This gives 3 equations, and we solve them by "partial integration"

(Partially integrating w.r.t (with respect to) z gives a constant w.r.t z, but it could depend on x &
y)
Now take partial derivatives w.r.t y:

(partially integrate w.r.t y gives a constant that could depend on x but not z, because was only
possibly a function of x & y)

Recap: ; U only depends on x.

Now take partial derivatives w.r.t x:
Is the potential energy function of the electron (we can only determine it to within a constant C;
hence why potential energies are relative to some reference point).

1.10.4.3 Block in a Turnpike: A Very Difficult Friction - Energy Problem

1.10.4.3.1 Part 1: Setup, but do not solve, the following problem using energy:
A block of mass m in a turnpike of radius R is released from rest at the top of the turnpike (height
R relative to the bottom). If the coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.3, and the coefficient of static
friction is 0.7, find out whether the block will freeze under static friction the first time after
release when its velocity is 0.

Solution:
We need a bunch of things here. Mechanical energy is not conserved here, it's lost to friction
with distance travelled. Work done by friction is , and N at any instant
depends on the location in the turnpike and the velocity through centripetal acceleration.

Letting be the block's angular position (start is , bottom is , other side top would

be ), the force balance in the radial direction is:

Starting energy is gravitational potential:

The energy remaining at any point is the starting energy minus the energy that's been lost to

friction: (where s is distance travelled, and N depends on location

as above)
At any point, the velocity is determined from the remaining mechanical energy and the height y:
The height is related to the angle through , and the distance travelled is s, where

and .

The block slides down then back up the ramp, and momentarily stops (v = 0). Because of
friction, it doesn't slide back up to the same height it started at. During this first pass, is only

decreasing, so we can say .

(check: when [correct], at the bottom, [correct]).

and also so that:

What makes this equation so difficult to actually solve is that is an unknown function of .
We can help things a bit by defining the new variable :

Taking the derivative of both sides with respect to theta:

This is a first order linear differential equation. The initial condition is (a DE

with an initial value is called an initial value problem, IVP)

Once you solve it for the first in the range where w = 0, to answer the question
you'd check whether the static friction at this angle is enough to hold the block still, by
comparing

to the component of gravity directed down the ramp, .

1.10.4.3.2 Part 2 Option A: Solve it Manually, using Maple to help with the integral
Note: This method is more of a MATH 2Z03 solution than an ENGPHYS 2P04 one. We'll
usually do things like Option B or Option C, which are easier.

To recap, the IVP is

You can solve it manually [Math 2Z03 Material] by:
1. Put it into standard form:

2. Find the integrating factor, .

3. Multiply both sides by I, then factor the left side:

4. Integrate both sides:

To solve the integral on the right, you could split it into two integrals, then integrate each one by
parts twice.

We'll use Maple to speed this up:

> simplify(int(exp(-2*mu_k*theta)*gr*(mu_k*cos(theta)-sin(theta)), theta));
( 2 mu_k  )
e gr ( 2 mu_k2 cos(  )3 mu_k sin(  )cos(  ) )

4 mu_k21
But Maple doesn't add an arbitrary constant, so we need to do that manually:

Apply the initial condition:

restart:
int1:=simplify(int(exp(-2*mu_k*theta)*gr*(mu_k*cos(theta)-sin(theta)), theta)):
C:=simplify(solve(0=subs(theta=Pi/2, int1)+C, C));
w:=simplify((int1+C)/exp(-2*mu_k*theta));
Plotting w/gr between for reveals that this has two roots; one at , and at around -
0.5:
> plot(subs(mu_k=0.3, w/gr), theta=-Pi/2..Pi/2);

We can find where specifically the root is in the range using Maple's fsolve
command:
> theta1:=fsolve(subs(mu_k=0.3, w/gr)=0, theta=-Pi/2..0);
 := -0.5274507694
(See after Part 3 for some other options to find this angle)

1.10.4.3.3 Part 3: Check whether the block gets stuck when it stops
Now we can check whether the static friction at this angle is enough to hold the block still, by
comparing to the component of gravity directed down the ramp,

> 0.7*cos(theta1);
sin(-theta1);
0.6048650907
0.5033322068
Therefore: Yes, the block does halt due to static friction the first time it stops, at angle -0.527
rad.
1.10.4.3.4 Part 2 Option B: Have Maple Solve it For You

Because this IVP is linear and first order,

Maple can solve it very easily. Consider what each line here does. Comments greened.
restart: #Clears variables
dsolve({g*r*sin(q)+1/2*diff(w(q), q) = muk*(g*r*cos(q)+w(q)), w(Pi/2)=0}); #Solves the
IVP
subs([g=9.81, r=1, muk=0.3], %); #Substitutes values for the constants into the DE
solution
assign(%); #Makes w(q) assigned to the solution
plot(w(q), q=-Pi/2..Pi/2); #Plots w(q)

This shows us a location where w(q) = 0 around q = -0.5. (By the way, usually we'll use q in
place of theta in maple because it's easier to type, and q isn't typically a variable for anything else
outside of heat transfer and fluid dynamics).

1.10.4.3.5 Option C: Solving Block in a Turnpike with FlexPDE

Given that this problem was so tough, you might be wondering if we could use force instead of
energy. The net force in the radial direction (towards the centre of rotation) is:

and the net force in the down-the-ramp direction is:

(where )
We can solve the first equation for the normal force N, sub that into , and come up with
a single differential equation for :

This is a very nonlinear equation for - We can't solve this using any math you learn in
undergrad! Also, Maple can't even deal.
(Try this, if you dare:
restart:
g:=9.81: r:=0.1: muk:=0.3:
DE:=diff(q(t),t,t)=muk*((diff(q(t),t))^2+g/r*cos(q(t))-g/r*sin(q(t)));
ICs:=[q(0)=Pi/2, D(q)(0)=0];
dsolve({DE, op(ICs)});
This doesn't work, but there is a different way to do this in Maple; we'll revisit this after seeing
the FlexPDE solution.)

…But it's exactly the kind of thing FlexPDE does well (after reading this intro is a good time to
check out the document "Essential FlexPDE.docx" on ATL.)
FlexPDE solves systems of first order DEs. This DE is a second order one:
But we can write it as a system of first order ones like this:

To solve this in FlexPDE, create a new file (or open an existing one and save it with a new
name) and replace what's there with this ('w' = omega and 'q' = theta):
TITLE "Turnpike"
!This is a single line comment
{This is a multi-line
comment.
Script made 31 Aug 2016 by Minnick for Lecture 6 of EP 2P04 2016}
SELECT {Not important - FEM Stuff}
ngrid=1
COORDINATES{Not important - FEM Stuff}
cartesian2
VARIABLES {Lists the dependent variables we have DEs for, and some tolerance thresholds (sort of
lists how accurate we need them determined)}
q (threshold=0.01)
w (threshold = 0.01)
DEFINITIONS
Lb=10 {Not important - FEM Stuff}

{Variables; write constants and expressions used in DE solving}

t0 = 0.0
g = 9.8 {acceleration due to gravity}
r=0.1
muk=0.3

INITIAL VALUES {For the DE}

q = 3.14159/2
w = 0
EQUATIONS {The DEs. dt(w) means "derivative of w with respect to t" in FlexPDE}
w: dt(w) =muk*(w^2+g/r*cos(q))-g/r*sin(q)
q: dt(q) = w

BOUNDARIES {Not important - FEM Stuff}

Region 1
start(-Lb,0)
line to (Lb,0)
line to (Lb,Lb)
line to (-Lb,Lb)
line to close

time 0 to 600 halt ((w > 0) or (q < -3.14159/2)) {halt condition set to be when w stops being
negative (which is better than w=0 for numeric solutions) or q < -Pi/2 (off the turnpike)}

PLOTS {Things to plot after solving}

for t=t0 by 0.1 to endtime

history (w) at (0,0) as "angular velocity"

history (q) at (0,0) as "angle"

SUMMARY
report t as "Time to stop [s]"
report eval(w,0,0) as "Final angle Velocity"
report eval(q,0,0) as "Final position"
end

Then hit the lightning bolt button (or press ctrl-r) to run the script.
It will make some plots of while it's running, and then halt (because the condition (w > 0)
has become false) and output this summary:

Notice that we got the same final angle as the energy version we solved analytically & using
Maple. This solution was both easier, and also told us how long the whole thing takes (0.34 s for
r = 0.1 m).

1.10.4.3.6 Maple Dealing: Numeric dsolve

Full disclosure: Maple can do this problem if you break it up into a system of DEs (just like we
did for FlexPDE) and use the numeric option of dsolve. The syntax is a bit counterintuitive;
with numeric turned on dsolve's output changes into a procedure which you can then use to
actually solve the system for whatever variable limits you want. Here is an example:
restart:
g:=9.81: r:=0.1: muk:=0.3:
DE1:=diff(w(t),t)=muk*((w(t))^2+g/r*cos(q(t)))-g/r*sin(q(t)); #DE for omega
DE2:=diff(q(t),t)=w(t); #DE for theta
ICs:=[q(0)=Pi/2, w(0)=0]; #Initial conditions
dsn1:=dsolve({DE1, DE2, op(ICs)}, numeric, output=listprocedure);
dsn1(0.34); #FlexPDE told us the final time was 0.34. Check what we get at this time.
qsol:=eval(q(t), dsn1); #Assign the q(t) from dsn1 to its own function name.
wsol:=eval(w(t), dsn1); #Assign the w(t) from dsn1 to its own function name.
plot(wsol(t), t=0..0.5); #Examine w(t); look for where omega = 0.
tfinal:=fsolve(wsol(t)=0, t=0.3..0.4); #having found the range, solve for the exact t
plot(qsol(t), t=0..tfinal); #Examine q(t)
qfinal:=qsol(tfinal); #Determine the final angle
We'll need FlexPDE in 2P04 for its FEM capabilities (to get real solutions to beam deformation
problems with arbitrary boundary conditions), and in this course for nonlinear force problems
like rocketry and fluidic damping. So, as long as we're using it in the course we may as well use
its convenient numeric DE solving too. Being able to do this in Maple is a bonus.

Check Your Understanding

Which IVP is this code solving?
dsolve({m*diff(x(t),t,t)+b*(diff(x(t),t)+k*x(t)=Fext(t),
x(0)=0, D(x)(0)=0});

1.11 Linear Momentum and Collisions

1.11.1 Linear Momentum

The linear momentum p of a particle of mass m moving with a velocity v is

1.11.2 Linear Momentum is Conserved

The law of conservation of linear momentum indicates that the total momentum of an isolated
system is conserved. If two particles form an isolated system, their total momentum is conserved
regardless of the nature of the force between them. Therefore, the total momentum of the system
at all times equals its initial total momentum, or

The Impulse-Momentum Theorem

The impulse imparted to a particle by a force F is equal to the change in the momentum of the
particle:

This is known as the impulse-momentum theorem.

• Impulsive forces are often very strong compared with other forces on the system and usually
act for a very short time, as in the case of collisions.

1.11.3 Elasticity of Collisions

When two particles collide, the total momentum of the system before the collision always equals
the total momentum after the collision, regardless of the nature of the collision.
An inelastic collision is one for which the total kinetic energy is not conserved.
A perfectly inelastic collision is one in which the colliding bodies stick together after the
collision.
 An elastic collision is one in which kinetic energy is conserved.
 In a two- or three-dimensional collision, the components of momentum in each of the three
directions (x, y, and z) are conserved independently.

1.11.4 H15.4: Impact

Impact is a short period of time collision
Central impact has velocities along line of impact (which is the line perpendicular to the plane
of contact)

Oblique impact is any other impact:

Deformation impulse deforms them causing momentum transfer to reach the maximum
deformation state:

Restitution impulse pushes them apart again, leading to A's final momentum:

and will always be less than the deformation impulse for a real collision; the ratio of the two is

the coefficient of restitution:

From B's perspective, we'd have:

giving
Can rewrite eliminating v:
> restart:
e2:=(vB2-v)/(v-vB1);
e1:=(v-vA2)/(vA1-v);
solve(e1=e2,v);
subs(v=%, e1); simplify(%);
Perfectly Elastic impact has e = 1 (and no energy loss) while plastic (or "inelastic") has e = 0
(vA2 = vB2, so the numerator is 0); and maximum energy loss.

1.11.5 Centre of Mass

The position vector of the centre of mass of a system of particles is defined as:

Where is the total mass of the system and is the position vector of the ith particle.
 The position vector of the centre of mass of a rigid body can be obtained from the integral
expression:

 The velocity of the centre of mass of a system of particles is:

 The total momentum of a system of particles equals the total mass multiplied by the velocity
of the centre of mass:

1.11.6 Newton’s Second Law Applied to a System of Particles

Newton’s second law applied to a system of particles is

Where is the acceleration of the centre of mass and the sum is over all external forces. The
centre of mass moves like an imaginary particle of mass M under the influence of the resultant
external force on the system. It follows that the total momentum of the system is conserved if
there are no external forces acting on it.

1.11.6.1 Questions
Two astronauts (both 70 kg) are floating motionless in space far from Earth. One holds a 20 kg
oxygen tank. He pushes the tank directly towards the second astronaut, who catches and holds it.
If the speed of the tank relative to the second astronaut was 2.0 m/s, find the final speed of the
second astronaut relative to the first one (after the second one has caught the tank).

Solution:
The throw conserves momentum:

where is the mass of the tank, is the astronaut mass, is the first
astronaut's velocity relative to his initial velocity, and is the tank's velocity.
As the second astronaut catches the tank:

Then the relative velocity of the astronauts is:

Limiting cases:

The velocity scales with m, inversely with M, and with vt. The sign indicates that the second
astronaut will end up moving in the same direction the tank was thrown. This represents a

momentum change of .
In a further limit of this case, as or goes to 0 relative to M, so does .

. Why isn't this just vt? Because the relative velocity is dominated by the
first astronaut's velocity in this case.

. First astronaut pushes off with in the opposite direction, and when the
2nd catches the tank, she starts moving with velocity .

1.11.6.2 What is the rate of change of linear momentum?

Solution: This means is another way that physicists can

write Newton's second law, in case is too mainstream.
1.11.6.3 Question:
A cannon on a cart fires a cannonball. The momentum of the cart-cannon-cannonball system is
conserved in:
A. The horizontal direction
B. The vertical direction
C. Both the horizontal and the vertical direction
D. Neither the horizontal nor the vertical direction

Solution:
Only the horizontal direction, because in the vertical direction the Earth is involved; without the
Earth, the cart's momentum would have to increase in the downward direction as it fires the ball,
but the normal force increases to prevent this.

1.11.6.4 Tarzan and Jane

Tarzan (mass M) swings from a tree using an r = 4.5 m initially horizontal rope tied to a tree
branch. At the bottom of the swing, stationary Jane (mass m = M/2) grabs onto Tarzan and
swings with him. What is the max height the two will swing to?

Solution:
The downswing conserves energy:
The collision is inelastic, so doesn't conserve energy, but still conserves momentum:

The upswing conserves energy:

The final height depends only on the initial height and the mass ratio:
If

If

If

If

1.11.6.5 Springzan and Jane

Springzan (mass M) swings from a tree using an r = 4.5 m initially horizontal rope tied to a tree
branch. At the bottom of the swing, Springzan elastically collides with Jane (mass m = M/2).
Determine the velocity of each after the collision.

Solution:
During this collision, momentum and energy are conserved:

Solving:
restart;
p_eqn:=M*vi=M*vf1+m*vf2:
E_eqn:=M*vi^2=M*vf1^2+m*vf2^2:
solve({p_eqn,E_eqn}, [vf1,vf2]);
 [ vf1 vi, vf2 0 ],  vf1  vi ( mM ) , vf2  2 M vi  
  
  mM mM  

Both velocities scale with , but in different ways.

If , then Springzan ends up moving in the opposite direction.
If , then : this is the condition for maximum energy-transfer.
If , then Springzan is moving in the same direction afterwards, but slower.

Notice that in the limit of , we have .

For the numbers given, , we have:

> subs(m=M/2, %);
 [ vf1 vi, vf2 0 ],  vf1  vi , vf2  4 vi  
  
  3 3  
Springzan's speed drops to 1/3 of what it was (lower than the perfectly inelastic collision case
previously), but Jane's speed is higher than Springzan's initial speed was.

1.12 Rotation of a Rigid Object About a Fixed Axis

1.12.1 Angular Mechanics

 If a particle rotates in a circle of radius r through an angle (measured in radians), the arc
length it moves through is .
 The angular displacement of a particle rotating in a circle or of a rigid object rotating about
a fixed axis is

 The instantaneous angular speed of a particle rotating in a circle or of a rigid object

rotating about a fixed axis is

 The instantaneous angular acceleration of a rotating object is

 When a rigid object rotates about a fixed axis, every part of the object has the same angular
speed and the same angular acceleration.

1.12.2 Equations of Angular Kinematics

If a particle or object rotates about a fixed axis under constant angular acceleration, one can
apply the angular equations of kinematics that are analogous to those for linear motion under
constant linear acceleration:



 A useful technique in solving problems dealing with rotation is to visualize a linear version
of the same problem.

1.12.3 Converting from Linear to Angular

When a rigid object rotates about a fixed axis, the angular position, angular speed, and angular
acceleration are related to the linear position, linear speed, and linear acceleration through the
relationships:




1.12.4 Moment of Inertia of a System of Particles

The moment of inertia of a system of particles is

1.12.5 Rotational Energy

If a rigid object rotates about a fixed axis with angular speed , its rotational energy can be
written:

Where I is the moment of inertia about the axis of rotation.

1.12.6 Moment of Inertia of a Rigid Body

The moment of inertia of a rigid object is:

where r is the distance from the mass element dm to the axis of rotation.

1.12.7 Torque
The magnitude of the torque associated with a force F acting on an object is:

where d is the moment arm of the force, which is the perpendicular distance from some origin to
the line of action of the force. Torque is a measure of the tendency of the force to change the
rotation of the object about some axis.
If a rigid object free to rotate about a fixed axis has a net external torque acting on it, the object
undergoes an angular acceleration , where

1.12.8 The Parallel axis theorem:

Find the MoI through an object's Centre of mass, . Then the MoI about a parallel axis to this
one is:

where D is the parallel separation distance of the new axis from the one through the centre of
mass.

The MoI is always the smallest about axes through an object’s centre of mass rather than a
parallel but offset axis to one through the centre of mass (in 3D space there are an infinite
number of those axes, but any parallel axis has a larger MoI, since ).

1.12.9 Power Delivered by an External Force in Rotating a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
The rate at which work is done by an external force in rotating a rigid object about a fixed, or the
power delivered, is:

1.12.10 The Rotational-Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem

The net work done by external forces in rotating a rigid object about a fixed axis equals the
change in the rotational kinetic energy of the object:

1.12.10.1 Spinning masses

If masses m1 and m2 rotate together with , what is the ratio of tensions?

Solution:

for each mass. Let be the length of each rope.

Net force on in the radial direction is: .

On it’s .
Combining, and setting ,

Then

so, the ratio is .

is larger because it is holding both masses; but it's not double , because mass 2 needs a
larger net force on it due to the larger radius.

1.12.10.2 Discrete Mass MoI

Four identical particles are connected by massless rods to form a square of side D:

a) Calculate the MoI of this system through the diagonal.

b) Calculate the MoI of this system through the parallel axis that that passes through the top left
particle. ("parallel" as in "parallel to the axis from part a")

Solution: We need the distance of each particle from the axis.

a) The diagonal of this square is , so the MoI is:

b)
Two ways:
1. Directly calculating it using the new distances of each particle from the axis:
 2. Parallel axis theorem:

1.12.10.3 Distributed Mass MoI: Rod

1) Calculate the MoI of a uniform mass per length =  rod of total length L about one end in
terms of its dimensions and mass m.

Solution:
Set up x as the displacement down the rod. Then we have each piece of mass dm creating an
MoI of

Since , in total the MoI is: (where m is the

total mass of the rod)

2) Calculate the MoI of that rod about its centre of mass.

Solution:

The centre of mass is in the middle, and is displaced from the end. We could redo the integral
with different bounds, or use the parallel axis theorem:

1.12.10.4 Distributed Mass MoI: Solid Cylinder

Find the MoI of a solid cylinder with uniform density , length L, and radius R about its
cylindrical axis in terms of its dimensions and mass m.

Solution:
A cylindrical shell of mass dm is a distance r away from the centre.
Therefore, the MoI is

Part 2:
Now imagine the cylinder isn't solid, but is hollowed out to inner radius . Find the new MoI
in terms of the new mass.

Solution:
This gives the same integral as before but with different bounds:

The total mass comes from a similar integral as the MoI, but without multiplying by :

Factoring the MoI:

Check: if , this gives as before.

If , it gives (the limit of a ring).
 Check Your Understanding
Two solid steel cylinders have the same density and length but have different diameters: one
is twice the diameter of the other one. What is the ratio of their MoI?

Solution:
Be careful using because the mass of the bigger cylinder has also increased (by a
factor of 4, since )
Considering that, or just using , we get 24 = 16 times the MoI for the double-

1.12.10.5 Block on a ramp with a non-frictionless pulley

A block of mass m = 2.5 kg slides down a frictionless ramp angled 35o to the horizontal. It is
attached to a light cord wrapped around a wheel of radius R = 0.12 m. The block accelerates at
2 m/s2 down the ramp. Although there's no friction between the block and the ramp, there is
friction in the wheel's axle, which applies a constant frictional torque of to the wheel as
it unwinds. Find the tension in the rope and the MoI of the wheel.

Solution:
Force on block perpendicular to the ramp:

Force on block down the ramp:

→
Relation between linear and angular motion:

Torque on wheel in CCW direction:

Analysis:
With more torque, we'd need less I and vice versa: the gravitation energy of the block goes into
kinetic energy of the block, kinetic energy of the wheel, and friction in the wheel. Therefore,
increasing the friction should decrease the MoI and vice versa.

Notice also that m has one term that increases I ( ) and another one term that
decreases it: . The increase is the gravitational potential energy; the source of the
rotational energy. The decrease term is due to the energy that went instead into block's kinetic
energy.

Check Your Understanding

What is Newton's second law for angular motion?
1.13 Rolling Motion and Angular Momentum
If an object is translating and rotating, its total kinetic energy is the sum of its translational and
rotational: .
If further the object is rolling, then you can relate its rotational and translational motion via its
radius: .

A force F applied to an object a displacement r away from its rotation axis produces a torque
about that axis.

Cross Product (AKA vector product): Applies to two vectors in three-dimensional space. The
result is a vector that is orthogonal to the other two, and has a magnitude equal to the area of the
parallelogram created by the two vectors being multiplied.

Eg:

Determinant:

(as long as you pick a positive direction for )

Cross product is only defined in 3-dimensions.
is perpendicular to both u and v, and which one of the two possible directions is given by
the right-hand rule, and (you need to determine which two directions it could be
before using the right-hand rule)

In a standard "right-handed coordinate system", , and consequently and

. Whenever you draw axes, you should check that to see if you've done it right.
 Extra info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque#/media/File:Torque,_position,_and_force.svg

The angular momentum of a particle about an axis is , where r is the object's

displacement relative to that axis and p is its linear momentum. Angular momentum is also
where I is its moment of inertia about the axis for which its angular velocity is .
Linear Angular Concept

1.13.1.1 Falling Pencil

A pencil is balanced upright on a desk and allowed to fall over. As it rotates from vertical to
horizontal, is its angular acceleration constant, increasing, or decreasing?

Solution: Angular acceleration is related to torque about the axis of rotation through
(Newton's second law for angular motion)
The torque is , where is the vector from the pivot point to the pencil's CoM, and
is the pencil's weight.
As the pencil falls, the angle between and decreases from when the pencil is upright
to just before the pencil hits the desk. Therefore, the magnitude of the torque is increasing
and so is the angular acceleration.

1.13.1.2 Astronauts
Two astronauts are floating freely in space joined by a rope of length L = 15 m. Each has an M =
70 kg mass and one has a pack of mass m = 50 kg. They slowly revolve about their common
centre of mass at . After they gather the rope so that they're separated by only l =
10 m, how long does it take to complete one revolution?
Solution:

As they gather the rope, they decrease their moment of inertia and increase their angular
velocity.
restart;
xbar:=M*L/(2*M+m):
MoI:=simplify((M+m)*xbar^2+M*(L-xbar)^2);
( Mm ) M L 2
MoI :=
2 Mm

(note that you can't use I as a variable name, because in Maple)

From conservation of angular momentum,

.
Since , we can say that:

therefore, as they draw the rope from 15 to 10 m, we have

Since , this means the period of rotation has changed to

1.13.1.3 Rolling up a Ramp:

A thin ring of mass M rolls (without slipping) at speed along a level floor, and then up
a ramp of vertical height h = 0.15 m. What is the speed v of the ring when it reaches the top of
the ramp?

Solution:
Relating the rolling to translation:
Moment of inertia:
Energy:

Energy is conserved, so:

Veritasium Bullet Block Experiment: https://youtu.be/vWVZ6APXM4w