UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO Faculty of Arts and Science APRIL EXAMINATIONS 2015 PHY 3543 Duration - 3 hours . Examination aids: One 8.5”x11” Aid Sheet Allowed (both sides) The exam is out of 100 marks. There are four questions. All questions are of equal value. ‘Total Pages=3. Please read each question thoroughly before answering. Unsupported answers will only receive partial credit (i.e. show your work!) 1. Two identical masses rm and two identical, ideal springs are arranged as shown in the figure. One spring connects the first mass to the origin, and the second spring connects the two masses. The springs and masses are constrained to lie along a straight line but the system is free to rotate, keeping the first spring a:tached to the origin. The unstretched length of each spring is a, and both springs have spring constant k. (In case you've forgotten all about springs, this means they each have potential energy V(r) = k(r ~ a)?/2,) Ignore gravity in this problem, and assume the system is constrained to move in the 2y plane. (a) How many degrees of freedom does the system have? Identify an appropriate set of generalized coordinates for the system, find the Lagrangian, and find the equations of motion. (b) Find expressions for all conserved quantities in part (a). Page 1 of 3{c) Now suppose the masses and springs are externally driven to rotate with angular ve- locity w about the origin, so that $ = wt, where © is the angle between the springs and the x axis, How many degrees of freedom does the system have now? Identify an appropriate set of generalized coordinates and find the Lagrangian for the system. (4) Find the equations which determine the equilibrium radial distances 1,2 of the two masses from the origin in part (c) (you do NOT need to solve these equations). 2. (a) Starting from the Lagrangian for a particle of mass m in a central potential U(r) in three dimensions in spherical polar coordinates, find the Hamiltonian H(r,9, 6, Pr.Po, Po) Use this to find Hamilton's equatiors for the system in spherical polar coordinates. (b) A particle moving in three dimensions has mass m, position # = (cy, z) and momentum #. Evaluate the Poisson brackets (z,pz}, {7.My}, (Mz, My} and (x, H)} where Mj is the j'th component of the particle's angular momentum about the origin and H is the Hamiltonian, (c) Is it possible to have a system where M, and M, are integrals of motion, but not M.? Explain. 3. Consider a rectangular solid of mass M, uniform density and dimensions ax 6%, as depicted in part (i) of the figure, where a > b > c. Choose the x, y and = axes to lie parallel to the edges of length ¢, b and a, respectively. nH om, @ (i) (a) Compute the inertia tensor Ji; along suitably chosen body-fixed principal axes, with .s.the origin at the centre of mass. Show explicitly that the off-diagonal term Izy vanishes. Page 2 of 3(b) If the solid is spun about its centre of mass in free space, about which axes will it rotate stably? (c) Compute the inertia tensor If; for rotations about the corner O’, with axes kept parallel to those in part (a) (d) Suppose the solid is firmly attached to a fixed. pole along its longest edge, as shown in part (ii) of the figure, and is rotating about the pole with angular velocity & = 3. Find the kinetic energy of rotation and angular momentum of the solid about O”. Why is the pole needed to keep the solid rotating about this axis? 4, The Lagrangian for a heavy symmetric to> with Jy = Jy, mass M and distance & between the fixed point and centre of mass is nanan a L= 5h (P+ gsin?0) + 515 (9+ bc0s8)’ — Matcosd where (8,9,1) are the Euler angles. (a) Find expressions for three independent integrals of the motion. (b) The top is initially spun with angular frequency y(t = 0) = gio and the tip is released from rest at an angle 6(t = 0) =. Using the results of part (a), express the equation of motion for 6(t) in the form Lig 7 gh® + Vew(0) = E and find expressions for Ver(@) and £’ in terms of wp and Mp. Describe qualitatively the subsequent motion of the top. (c) Instead of the initial conditions in part (b), the top is arranged so that it precesses 0 for all times). Find the possible precession frequencies of without nutation (ie. 6 the top. Show that for a fast top (Js > VMI) the slower of these frequencies is approximately Mgt/1. Page 3 of 3