Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Lagrangian Mechanics: 1 Principle of Least Action
Lagrangian Mechanics: 1 Principle of Least Action
Brizard
Saint Michael's College
Lagrangian Mechanics
where the action integral is a functional of the vector function q(t), which provides a path
from the initial point q i = q(ti) to the ¯nal point qf = q(tf ). The variational principle
¯ Z tf " Ã !#
d ¯ @L d @L
¯ j
0 = ±A[q] = A[q + ² ±q]¯ = ±q ¡ dt;
d² ¯ ti @ qj dt @ q_j
²=0
where the variation ±q is assumed to vanish at the integration boundaries (±q i = 0 = ±qf ),
yields the Euler-Lagrange equation for the generalized coordinate qj (j = 1; :::; k)
à !
d @L @L
= ; (2)
dt @ q_ j @ qj
The Lagrangian also satis¯es the second Euler equation
à !
d @L @L
L ¡ q_j = ; (3)
dt @ q_ j @t
and thus for time-independent Lagrangian systems (@L=@t = 0) we ¯nd that L¡ q_ j @L=@ q_ j
is a conserved quantity whose interpretation will be discussed shortly.
The form of the Lagrangian function L(r; r_ ; t) is dictated by our requirement that
Newton's Second Law m Är = ¡ rU(r; t) describing the motion of a particle of mass m in a
nonuniform (possibly time-dependent) potential U(r; t) be written in the Euler-Lagrange
form (2). One easily obtains the form
m 2
L(r; r_ ; t) = j_rj ¡ U (r; t); (4)
2
1
which is simply the kinetic energy of the particle minus its potential energy. For a time-
independent Lagrangian (@L=@t = 0), we also ¯nd that the energy function
@L m 2
r_ ¢ ¡ L = j_rj + U (r) = E;
@ r_ 2
is a constant of the motion. Hence, for a simple mechanical system, the Lagrangian function
is obtained by computing the kinetic energy of the system and its potential energy and then
construct Eq. (4).
2 Examples
The construction of a Lagrangian function for a system of N particles proceeds in three
steps as follows.
Step I. De¯ne k generalized coordinates fq1 (t); :::; q k(t)g that represent the instanta-
neous con¯guration of the system of N particles.
Step II. Construct the position vector ra (q; t) and its associated velocity
Xk
@r a @ra
va (q; q;
_ t) = + q_j
@t j=1 @q j
and the potential energy U (q; t) for the system and combine them to obtain the Lagrangian
2
Although the motion of the pendulum is two-dimensional, a single generalized coordi-
nate is needed to describe the con¯guration of the pendulum: the angle µ measured from
the negative y-axis (see Figure above). Here, the position of the object is given as
x(µ;
_ µ) _ = ` µ_ cos µ and y(µ;
_ µ) _ = ` µ_ sin µ:
3
2.2 Example II: Bead on a Rotating Hoop
Consider a bead of mass m sliding freely on a hoop of radius R rotating with angular
velocity !0 in a constant gravitational ¯eld with acceleration g.
Here, since the bead of the rotating hoop moves on the surface of a sphere of radius R,
we use the generalized coordinates given by the two angles µ (measured from the negative
z-axis) and ' (measured from the positive x-axis), where '_ = !0 . The position of the bead
is given as
z(µ;
_ µ; _ t) = R µ_ sin µ;
4
and the Euler-Lagrange equation for µ is
à !
@L 2 _ d @L
= mR µ ! = mR2 µÄ
@ µ_ dt _
@µ
@L
= ¡ mgR sin µ
@µ
+ mR2 !02 cos µ sin µ
or µ ¶
Ä g 2
µ + sin µ ¡ !0 cos µ = 0
R
Consider a pendulum of mass m and length b attached to the edge of a disk of radius a
rotating at angular velocity ! in a constant gravitational ¯eld with acceleration g.
Placing the origin at the center of the disk, the coordinates of the pendulum mass are
x = ¡ a sin !t + b cos µ
y = a cos !t + b sin µ
so that the velocity components are
x_ = ¡ a! cos !t ¡ b µ_ sin µ
y_ = ¡ a! sin !t + b µ_ cos µ
and the squared velocity is
v2 = a2!2 + b2 µ_2 + 2 ab ! µ_ sin(µ ¡ !t):
Setting the zero potential energy at x = 0, the gravitational potential energy is
U = ¡ mg x = mga sin !t ¡ mgb cos µ:
5
The Lagrangian L = K ¡ U is, therefore, written as
h i
_ t) = m a 2!2 + b2µ_ 2 + 2 ab ! µ_ sin(µ ¡ !t)
L(µ; µ;
2
¡ mga sin !t + mgb cos µ; (5)
@L
= mb2 µ_ + m ab ! sin(µ ¡ !t) !
@ µ_ Ã !
d @L
= mb2 µÄ + m ab ! (µ_ ¡ !) cos(µ ¡ !t)
dt @ µ_
and
@L
= m ab ! µ_ cos(µ ¡ !t) ¡ mg b sin µ
@µ
or g a
µÄ + sin µ ¡ !2 cos(µ ¡ !t) = 0
b b
We recover the standard equation of motion for the pendulum when a or ! vanish.
Note that the terms [(m=2) a 2!2] and [¡ mga sin !t] in the Lagrangian (5) play no role
in determining the dynamics of the system. In fact, as can easily be shown, a Lagrangian L
is always de¯ned up to an exact time derivative, i.e., the Lagrangians L and L0 = L+ df=dt,
where f (q; t) is an arbitrary function, lead to the same Euler-Lagrange equations. In the
present case,
f (t) = [(m=2) a2! 2] t + (mga=!) cos !t
and thus this term can be omitted from the Lagrangian (5) without changing the equations
of motion.
Consider a compound Atwood machine composed three masses (labeled m1 , m2, and m3 )
attached by two massless ropes through two massless pulleys in a constant gravitational
¯eld with acceleration g. The two generalized coordinates for this system (see Figure) are
the distance x of mass m1 from the top of the ¯rst pulley and the distance y of mass m2
from the top of the second pulley; here, the lengths `a and `b are constants.
6
The coordinates and velocities of the three masses m1 , m2, and m3 are
x1 = x ! v1 = x;
_
x2 = `a ¡ x + y ! v2 = y_ ¡ x;
_
x3 = `a ¡ x + `b ¡ y ! v3 = ¡ x_ ¡ y;
_
where constant terms were omitted. The Lagrangian L = K ¡ U is, therefore, written as
m1 2 m2 m3
L(x; x;
_ y; y)
_ = x_ + _ 2 +
( x_ ¡ y) _ 2
(x_ + y)
2 2 2
+ g x (m1 ¡ m2 ¡ m3 ) + g y (m2 ¡ m3) :
7
while the Euler-Lagrange equation for y is
@L
= (m3 ¡ m2) x_ + (m2 + m3) y_ !
@ y_
à !
d @L
= (m3 ¡ m2 ) xÄ + (m2 + m3 ) yÄ
dt @ y_
@L
= g (m2 ¡ m3)
@y
or
dq @L
E = ¢ ¡ L
dt @ q_
de¯nes the energy invariant. When the Lagrangian is invariant under spatial translations
or rotations, ® ! ® + ±®, the Noether theorem states that the component
@L @q @L
p® = = ¢
@ ®_ @® @ q_