LAGRANGIAN ees | |) HAMILTONIAN MECHANICS Solutions to the Exercises M. G. CALKIN Dalhousie University Ce anada Wp wor Scientific Singapore * New Jersey «Londons Hong KongPublished by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. P.O Box 128, Farrer Road, Singapore 912805 USA office: Suite 1B, 1060 Main Street, River Edge, NJ 07661 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE British Library Cataloguing-in-Pubtication Data ‘A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. LAGRANGIAN AND HAMILTONIAN MECHANICS: SOLUTIONS TO ‘THE EXERCISES Copyright © 1999 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. Alll rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher. For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from the publisher. ISBN 981-02-3782-0 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Printed in Singapore by Uto-PrintPREFACE This book contains the exercises from the intermediate/advanced classical mechanics text Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics (World Scientific Pub. Co. Pte. Led., Si , 1996) together with their complete solutions. In a few of the exercises I have seen t to make minor changes in the wording; these are marked by asterisks. T have not included the final Exercise 10-5, which is really an open-ended mini research Project. ‘The present work is intended primarily for instructors who are using Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics in their course. It is hoped that it will assist them in choosing suitable assignments for their students, and that it will occasionally provide new insights. Instructors may also wish to photocopy py and post the solutions to exercises with which their ‘students have had This book may also be used, together with Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, by those who are studying mechanics on their own. In this case I strongly urge the individuals to make serious efforts to work out a substantial number of the relevant exercises on completing their study of each chapter and before looking at what I have written here. Only in this way will such individuals come face to face with, and hopefully overcome, the various difficulties which the exercises present. Exercises, whether mental or physical, are meant to be done, not read about! Melvin G. Calkin Halifax, Nova Scotia September, 1998