Unit 3 – Tutorial Sheet 2 (PH1101 Aug-Nov 2015) 27.09.

2015
Central Forces, Effective Potential
1. Sketch the actual and effective potentials for a particle moving in a central force field,
where the force is
(a) always repulsive and vanishes as r → ∞
(b) always attractive and vanishes as r → 0
Show that the possible orbits are unbounded in the first case, but bounded in the
second. In both cases, illustrate how bounds on the possible values of r are related
to the total energy of the particle.
2. A particle moves in a potential V (r) = −C/3r3 .
(a) Given L, find the maximum value of the effective potential.
(b) Let the particle come in from infinity with speed v0 and impact parameter b.
What is the largest value of b for which the particle is captured by the potential?
(The cross section for capture is given by πb2max .)
3. A particle of mass m moves in a potential given by V (r) = rk . Let the angular
momentum be L.
(a) Find the radius, r0 , of the circular orbit.
(b) If the particle is given a tiny kick so that the radius oscillates around r0 , find
the frequency, ωr , of these small oscillations in r.
−λr
4. A particle moves in a potential, V = −V0 e r .
(a) Given L, find the radius of the stable circular orbit.
(b) What is the largest value of L for which a circular orbit exists? If r0 is the
radius of the circle in the cutoff case, what is the value of Vef f (r0 )?
5. (a) Halley’s comet is in an elliptic orbit about the Sun. The eccentricity of the orbit
is 0.967 and the period is 76 years. The mass of the Sun is 2 × 1030 kg, and
G = 6.67 × 10−11 N.m2 /kg2 .
i. Using these data, determine the distance of Halleys comet from the Sun at
perihelion and at aphelion.
ii. What is the speed of Halleys comet when it is closest to the Sun?
(b) Before landing astronauts on the Moon, the Apollo 11 space vehicle was put into
orbit about the Moon. The mass of the vehicle was 9979 kg and the period of
the orbit was 120 min. The maximum and minimum distances from the center
of the Moon were 1861 km and 1838 km. Assuming the Moon to be a uniform
spherical body, what is the mass of the Moon according to these data?