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Classical Mechanics
Assignment #1 Solutions
#1 (10 points)
+ zz. Find A
A vector field in cylindrical polar coordinates is A = 2 + z
and A. Is this a conservative field? Why or why not?
Solution
+ Az z, where A = 2, A = z, and Az = z. From the
Here, we have A = A + A
inside of the back cover of the text, we see that
1
1
(A ) +
A + Az
z
1
1
(4) + (0) +
=
= 4 + .
A =
(1)
(2)
(3)
Next, we have
1
A =
Az A +
A Az + z
(A )
A
(4)
z
z
+ 2zz.
(5)
= (z ) z
Since A 6= 0, A is not a conservative field.
#2 (10 points)
Consider an object that is moving in a cylindrical coordinate system. Its position
at time t is given by r = (t) + z(t)z. Find an expression for the three components of the
objects velocity v and acceleration a. Show all of your work.
Solution
This derivation follows very closely with the one for 2D polar coordinates (slides 19-21 of
chapter 1 notes); the only difference is the presence of a z component, which is separable
from the other components.
The position vector is r = + zz. Using Eqns. (1.21 and 1.26) from the class notes
(with r ), we have a velocity of
v = r = +
+ z
+ z
z = +
z.
t
(6)
v = = 0,
1
vz = z.
(7)
+
+ + zz
+
t
t
2
+
+ zz,
= + 2
a = v = +
(8)
a = + 2 = 0,
az = z.
(9)
#3 (10 points)
Find the eigenvalues and their corresponding normalized eigenvectors for the following matrix A:
2 1 0
2 0
A = 1
0
0 4
Solution
To find the eigenvalues, we must solve the characteristic equation det(I A) = 0. The
characteristic equation is therefore
2
1
0
= 3 82 + 19 12 = ( 1)( 3)( 4) = 0,
1
2
0
(10)
0
0
4
0
x1
1
1
0
1 1
0 .
x2
0
(11)
=
0
x3
0
0 3
The bottom row tells us that 3x3 = 0, and therefore x3 = 0. The first 2 rows agree that
x1 = x2 . Well call this p. Then, an eigenvector is [p, p, 0]T . However, we need to normalize
this eigenvector by ensuring
that the sum of the squares of all elements is equal to 1. Thus,
2
2
p + p = 1, or p = 1/ 2. Finally, the normalized eigenvector corresponding to 1 is
1
1
x1 = 1 .
(12)
2
0
For 2 = 3, the same procedure tells us that x3 = 0 and x1 = x2 , and thus the normalized
eigenvector is
1
1
x2 = 1 .
(13)
2
0
2
For 3 = 4, we have
0
x1
2 1 0
1 2 0 x2 = 0 .
0
x3
0 0 0
(14)
This is is a bit trickier - since none of these equations involves x3 , it is arbitrary; well call
it p. Then, by multiplying the second row by 2 and subtracting that from the first row, we
get 3x2 = 0, which means that x2 = 0. Finally, substituting our x3 and x2 into the first
row tells us that x1 must equal zero. Therefore (setting p = 1 for normalization),
0
0 .
x3 =
(15)
1
Note that any of these solutions can be multiplied by any complex value with unit magnitude and theyd still be normalized eigenvectors.
#4 (10 points)
Express f (x) = ln(1 x) as a Taylor series in the region around x = 0. Write your
answer in summation form, and then write down a 4th -order polynomial representation of
f (x) (that is, the sum of all terms with powers up to x4 .) Using any suitable software,
plot these curves on the same graph: f (x), f (1) (x), f (2) (x), f (3) (x), f (4) (x), in the interval
1 x 1 (that is, plot the original function, and the 1st - through 4th -order Taylor
approximations.
Solution
From eq. (1.47), we have
f (x) =
X
f (m) ()
(x )m .
m!
m=0
Where, in this case, = 0. We will start by looking at the zeroth derivative of f (x) at
x = 0, which is simply ln(1) = 0. This tells us that the first term of the Taylor series is
equal to zero, and that the lower limit of the summation can be changed from 0 to 1.
Now, we can calculate the first few derivatives of f (x) and use these results to find a
formula for the mth derivative:
f (1) (x) = (1 x)1
f (2) (x) = (1 x)2
f (3) (x) = 2(1 x)3
f (4) (x) = 2(3)(1 x)4
f (5) (x) = 2(3)(4)(1 x)5
X
X
xm
(m 1)! m
.
f (x) =
x =
m!
m
m=1
m=1
Note that this last step was much easier than that of the example in the class notes; since
= 0, the mth term in the sum only contributes a term in xm to the polynomial, and not
any lower-order terms. f (x) and its approximation are plotted below.
f and approximations
0
1
2
3
4
5
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
x
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Fig. 1: Problem #4: f (x) (gold) and its approximations f0 (x) (blue), f1 (x) (green), f2 (x) (red),
f3 (x) (cyan), f4 (x) (magenta)
#5 (15 points)
Consider a pair of neutral atoms. They are subject to an attractive force at large
separations and a repulsive force at small separations (never mind the details.) A simple
model of these effects leads to the Lennard-Jones potential, which describes the electrical
potential of the system of the two neutral atoms as a function of their separation r:
"
6 #
12
V (r) = 4A
,
r
r
where A and are constants. Calculate the equilibrium position r0 (that is, the value of r
for which V (r) is minimized.) Then, use a Taylor series to express V (r) in a small region
4
dV
6
12
6
6
= 0 when r = r0 = 2.
= 4A 12 13 + 6 7 = 24A 7 1 2
dr
r
r
r
r
To express V (r) as a second-order polynomial in r in the region of r0 , we can write out
explicitly the zeroth, first, and second-order terms of the Taylor series,
1
V (r) V (r0 ) + V (r0 )(r r0 ) + V (r0 )(r r0 )2 .
2
The zeroth-order term is easily calculated as V (r0 ) = A. The first-order term is eliminated, since, by definition, V (r) = 0 at the point of equilibrium. We are left with the
second-order term,
6
12
V (r) = 4A 156 14 42 8 .
r
r
Evaluated at r = r0 , this is
V (r0 ) =
36A
4A
.
156(2)7/3 42(2)4/3 =
3
2
2 2
2
36A
6
V (r) A +
2
.
r
3
2 2
We could expand the squared term, but for most applications, the form shown here is the
most useful. A plot of V (r) and the second-order approximation is shown in Fig. 2 for
A = 1 and = 1. The curves are nearly identical in the region around r = r0 .
V(r)
0.5
0.5
1
0.8
1.0
r0
1.2
1.4
r
1.6
1.8
Fig. 2: Problem #5: V (r) (blue) and its second-order approximation (green)
X
xn
n=0
n!
and
cos x =
=1+x+
x2 x3 x4 x5 x6
+
+
+
+
+ ,
2!
3!
4!
5!
6!
X
(1)n x2n
n=0
(2n)!
=1
x2 x4 x6
+
+
2!
4!
6!
(17)
(18)
(we dont need to extend these approximations past x6 , since the resulting terms would
be neglected in our 6th-order approximation of f (x) anyhow). Therefore, we can write
x2 x3 x4 x5 x6
+
+
+
+
+
2!
3!
4!
5!
6!
x2 x4 x6
= (c0 + c1 x + c2 x2 + c3 x3 + c4 x4 + c5 x5 + c6 x6 )(1
+
+ )
2!
4!
6!
c0 2
c0
c1 3
c2
= c0 + c1 x + c2
x + c3
x + c4 +
x4
2
2
2
24
c3
c1 5
c2
c0 6
c4
+ c5 +
x + c6 +
x.
2
24
2
24 720
(19)
Finally, we can solve the cn one by one (starting with c0 ) by equating each coefficient of
xn . This can be set up as a simultaneous solution of 7 equations in 7 unknowns, but in
our case we can just start from c0 and solve for the cn individually in numerical order. The
result is:
ex
2x3 x4 3x5 19x6
.
(20)
1 + x + x2 +
+
+
+
cos x
3
2
10
90
3
x 10
1.8
0.5
error in approximation
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.5
1
0.8
0.5
0
x
0.5
1.5
0.5
0
x
0.5
Fig. 3: Problem #6: (left) f(x) (blue) and its approximation (green); the curves are virtually
indistinguishable. (right) the error in the approximation...as you may have anticipated, its a
7th-order polynomial, since the first 6 orders are accounted for in our approximation.