Physics 251, Honours Classical Mechanics 1: Homework #3

due Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020

m2 het
ratc
1. Sliding blocks with spring. Two g
m1 strin
blocks of mass m1 and m2 are initially at
rest on an inclined plane, due to static x2
friction. They have a massless spring
x1
between them with spring constant k,
θ
compressed by a distance l from its
equilibrium length.
There is a string initially holding the system in equilibrium. At t = 0, someone cuts
the string and everything starts moving because the static friction is no longer sufficient.
There is a massless and frictionless ratcheting mechanism that allows the separation be-
tween the blocks to increase, but not decrease. The coefficient of kinetic friction at the
surface of the wedge is µ. Let the positions of the two blocks be measured with respect to
this surface, using the coordinates x1 and x2 . We can conveniently choose them so that
their initial values are both zero; hence xi measures the position of mi with respect to its
initial value.
(a) Draw the free-body diagrams for each mass, and find the resulting equations for
ẍ1 and ẍ2 .
(b) Show that these equations allow you to solve for the difference ∆x = x2 − x1 as
a function of time; carry out the solution, up to the time where any of the forces change
sign. Hint: it could be useful to know that

sinh(ix) = i sin x, cosh(ix) = cos(x)

√
where i = −1. If you are not familiar with these identities, you can easily prove them
by examining the Taylor series for these functions.
(c) Consider the two masses together as the system and draw its free-body diagram.
Which linear combination of x1 and x2 does it allow you to determine? Find the solution
for this linear combination. What is its physical significance? (Hint: divide by the total
mass to get a combination with dimensions of length.) Find the relation between the
parameters such that m2 will come to rest when the spring becomes maximally extended.
How much time elapses?

2. Static versus kinetic friction. A block of mass m sits on a plane tilted by

angle θ from the horizontal, and the coefficients of static and kinetic friction, µs and µk ,
are large enough to keep the mass from sliding down the plane while at rest, or from
accelerating once it is moving. The mass starts from rest, and you push on it just hard
enough to get it moving. Suppose you keep pushing on it with the same force for a time
∆t after it starts moving. How far along the plane will it travel before it comes to rest
again? Compute the total distance, from the time when it starts to slide.

3. Accelerated climate change. (a) Suppose that the earth was suddenly stopped
in its orbit around the sun and started falling radially toward it. How long would it take
to fall into the sun?
(b) Now suppose the sun is stopped suddenly in its orbit around the galactic center, and
will fall radially into Sgr A, the supermassive black hole at the center, which you can
take to be 8 kpc (kiloparsec) from the sun. To find out how long it takes, we would also
need the mass density ρ(r) of matter in the galaxy, whichR 4 2is dominated by invisible dark
matter, and we would need to calculate M (r) = 4π 0 r ρ(r)dr, the mass enclosed at
a given radius r, and then solve Newton’s law with the complicated r-dependent force.
Instead, just make an order of magnitude (dimensional analysis) estimate, using the fact
that the mass of the galaxy within 8 kpc of its center is estimated to be 1011 solar masses,
about a tenth of the total mass of the galaxy.
Incidentally, how do we determine M (r) (and from it ρ(r)) experimentally? It can be
inferred by measuring the rotation rate v(r) of stars at a distance r from the center. For
the sun, v ∼
= 220 km/s.