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Solid Mechanics and Its Applications
Lester W. Schmerr
Engineering
Dynamics
2.0
Fundamentals and Numerical Solutions
Solid Mechanics and Its Applications
Volume 254
Series editors
J. R. Barber, Ann Arbor, USA
Anders Klarbring, Linköping, Sweden
Founding editor
G. M. L. Gladwell, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Aims and Scope of the Series
The fundamental questions arising in mechanics are: Why?, How?, and How much?
The aim of this series is to provide lucid accounts written by authoritative researchers
giving vision and insight in answering these questions on the subject of mechanics as
it relates to solids.
The scope of the series covers the entire spectrum of solid mechanics. Thus it
includes the foundation of mechanics; variational formulations; computational
mechanics; statics, kinematics and dynamics of rigid and elastic bodies; vibrations
of solids and structures; dynamical systems and chaos; the theories of elasticity,
plasticity and viscoelasticity; composite materials; rods, beams, shells and mem-
branes; structural control and stability; soils, rocks and geomechanics; fracture;
tribology; experimental mechanics; biomechanics and machine design.
The median level of presentation is the first year graduate student. Some texts are
monographs defining the current state of the field; others are accessible to final year
undergraduates; but essentially the emphasis is on readability and clarity.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
One of the striking features of current introductory engineering dynamics texts is that
although they are about dynamics, nothing moves! By that I mean that calculations
for motion parameters and forces are typically done at fixed instances of time. The
reason, of course, is that current texts are derived from an era when personal
computers (or even calculators) were nonexistent so that fixed time calculations
were the only ones feasible to do by hand or slide rule. The content and approach of
most engineering dynamics texts has changed little from the 1960s when the use of
vectors first became commonplace. Most of the recent attention on the teaching of
dynamics has concentrated on using modern learning techniques to effectively
deliver the material found in current dynamics courses. As valuable as these
improved learning efforts have been, they have had the unintended effect to take
the focus away from course content issues. The objective of this book is to provide a
new approach to dynamics that significantly changes the content and structure found
in most dynamics texts to better align the teaching of this subject to current
engineering tools and engineering practice.
This book is written as a second level course in dynamics for engineers. The
reason for structuring the book in this way is that there is a tremendous inertia (pun
intended) to making changes in entry level engineering texts so that the most
effective route is to give students a chance to see a different and more modern
approach at a junior/senior or a graduate level where instructors have much more
flexibility in choosing content. However, one could also use portions of this book to
enhance an existing first course in dynamics. I have called the book Engineering
Dynamics 2.0 (or, more succinctly, Dynamics 2.0) rather than “Intermediate Dynam-
ics” or “Advanced Dynamics” since most existing intermediate and advanced
dynamics books have the same characteristics as introductory texts in that they
rarely focus on obtaining explicit, time-dependent solutions to dynamics problems.
Dynamics 2.0 has three main distinguishing features. First, it emphasizes how to
obtain the differential equations of motion for dynamic systems and then how to
solve those equations numerically. As part of that approach, understanding con-
straints and constraint forces is shown to play an integral role. MATLAB® is used to
v
vi Preface
obtain the solutions, primarily through the numerical ordinary differential equation
solver ode45. Some higher level dynamics texts have instead used MATLAB®
Simulink models to do the numerical calculations. While Simulink is a powerful
software tool for performing simulations of complex dynamical systems, that power
is not needed for describing the fairly simple problems discussed in most dynamics
texts. Also, if students want to use software packages other than MATLAB® to solve
the problems discussed in this book, they can replace solvers such as ode45 with
similar functions from those packages. Using any “black box” numerical solvers, of
course, can lead to numerical inaccuracies if attention is not paid to the propagation
and sources of errors. This, however, is really no different than making sure that one
keeps sufficient significant figures when doing calculations by hand, a point that was
stressed in the past in dynamics courses. In the use of the MATLAB® numerical
solvers, I include discussions of the error tolerances one can set with those solvers
and show where numerical errors can be important. To understand the behavior of
the numerical solutions, animations can also be helpful so that I have demonstrated
how to generate animations from the numerical results for a number of the problems
considered. Some more recent dynamics books have used MATLAB®’s symbolic
algebra capabilities extensively. This book also occasionally takes advantage of
symbolic algebra, but it does not play a prominent role because I have wanted to
emphasize obtaining numerical solutions, and, as in most dynamics books, the
examples are simple enough that one can set up the problems for numerical solution
by hand. A second key feature of Dynamics 2.0 is that it makes extensive use of
matrices. Matrices are important for several reasons. First, they are essential both to
obtain the equations of motion and to describe the effects of constraints in forms that
are directly transferable to numerical computations. They also are very useful in
formulating kinematics problems suitable for numerical solutions. Second, matrices
are key elements in many of the software tools that engineers will use to solve more
complex and practical dynamics problems, such as the multibody codes found in
mechanical, aerospace, and biomechanics applications or finite element codes,
which have become the basis for solving many structural dynamics problems in
industry. A short introduction to matrices is provided in Appendix A that should
provide the reader with a sufficient background for the topics covered in this book.
Finally, a third feature of Dynamics 2.0 is that it uses a combination of Newton-Euler
and Lagrangian (analytical mechanics) treatments for solving dynamics problems.
However, rather than discussing these two treatments separately, as commonly
found in many intermediate and advanced dynamics texts, I have used a geometrical
approach that ties these two treatments together. Making that connection before
introducing concepts such as “virtual displacements” will hopefully take some of the
veil off of those aspects of analytical mechanics that students find to be vague and
mysterious and provide a solid foundation for higher level dynamics courses and
engineering applications.
This book follows the organization of more traditional treatments of dynamics by
first considering the motion of a single particle (Chap. 2) and then systems of
particles (Chap. 3). Chapter 4 covers kinematics and relative motion using both
vectors and matrices. In the discussion of rigid body dynamics problems in Chap. 5
Preface vii
The MATLAB® m-files for the functions and scripts developed in this book (see
Appendix F for code listings) are available on the web at https://doi.org/10.1007/
978-3-319-98470-4_2.
For MATLAB and Simulink product information, please contact:
The MathWorks, Inc.
3 Apple Hill Drive
Natick, MA, 01760-2098 USA
Tel: 508-647-7000
Fax: 508-647-7001
E-mail: info@mathworks.com
Web: https://www.mathworks.com
How to buy: https://www.mathworks.com/store
Find your local office: https://www.mathworks.com/company/worldwide
ix
x Contents
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Chapter 1
Basic Elements of Dynamics
This chapter discusses some of the basic elements of dynamics, including the
Newton-Euler laws, units, description of motion in various coordinate systems,
and vector-matrix notation that is used in the book. A short summary is also given
of the objectives of this book as well as an outline of the topics covered.
1.1 Introduction
When bodies are in static equilibrium, the forces and moments acting on those
bodies must balance, i.e., the resultant vector sum of all the forces, FR, must be
zero and the resultant vector sum, MQ, of all the moments about any point Q must be
zero:
X
N
FR ¼ Fi ¼ 0
i¼1
ð1:1:1Þ
X
S
MQ ¼ MQj ¼ 0
j¼1
Q x
z
dp
FR ðt Þ ¼
dt
ð1:1:2Þ
dLQ
MQ ðt Þ ¼
dt
where p(t) is the linear momentum and LQ(t) is the angular momentum about the
fixed point Q. In Chap. 2 we will describe these dynamics equations for the motion
of a single, small body (particle) of mass m, where the linear momentum p(t) ¼ mv(t)
in terms of the velocity, v(t) ¼ dxP/Q(t)/dt of the particle, and the angular momentum
LQ(t) ¼ xP/Q(t) mv(t), i.e., it is the moment of the linear momentum (see Fig. 1.1).
[Note that xP/Q is to be read to mean the position vector x of point P with respect to
point Q.] Similarly, if we use the appropriate expressions for the linear and angular
momentum in more complex systems of particles (Chap. 3), rigid bodies (Chaps. 5
and 8), or deformable bodies (Chap. 9) the basic relationships of Eq. (1.1.2) will
remain the same (as long as the point Q is a fixed point and the coordinate system
axes in which we measure the motion do not rotate—if Q is in motion and/or the
coordinate axes rotate then these motions will contribute to changes in the linear
momentum and angular momentum as we will see in later chapters). In the single-
particle case since the mass, m, is a constant the force equation in Eq. (1.1.2) is
FR ¼ ma, where a(t) ¼ dv(t)/dt ¼ d2xP/Q(t)/dt2 is the acceleration of the particle. This
is just Newton’s second law as taught in introductory physics courses. Although
Newton’s second law takes the center stage when describing the motion of single
particles and systems of particles, Newton’s law alone is inadequate to describe the
complex moving bodies that engineers must deal with such as machinery, automo-
biles, aircraft, and spacecraft. If the deformation of those complex bodies can be
neglected (i.e., they can be assumed to be rigid) Leonhard Euler showed how the
combined force and moment equations in Eq. (1.1.2) are sufficient to completely
solve for their motions. These Newton-Euler equations form the basic foundation for
the field of dynamics.
1.3 Describing Motion in Different Coordinate Systems 3
In dynamics we need to describe forces and moments and their effects on changes in
positions and angles of moving bodies. Table 1.1 shows the units used in both the
Système International (SI) and the US customary system.
There is, however, one important difference between the SI and US systems. In the
SI system the force is a derived quantity (F ¼ ML/T2) measured in newtons (N), where
1 N ¼ 1 kg m/s2. In the US system the mass is a derived quantity (M ¼ FT2/L )
measured in slugs, where 1 slug ¼ 1 lb s2/ft. Rotational motion in either system is
measured either in degrees ( ) or radians (rad), where 1 radian ¼ 360/2π ¼ 57.2958 .
One force that is commonly encountered in dynamics problems is the force of gravity
acting on a body, otherwise known as its weight. The weight, W, of a body on earth at
sea level is equal to the mass, m, of the body times the gravitational constant, g, i.e.,
W ¼ mg where g ¼ 9.81 m/s2 in the SI system and g ¼ 32.2 ft/s2 in the US system.
Thus, a mass of 1 kg weighs 9.81 N and a weight of 1 lb has a mass of 1/32.2 slugs.
Implicit in our use of the Newton-Euler equations is the assumption that they are valid
in a special coordinate system called an inertial coordinate system. An inertial system
is either fixed or moving at a constant velocity with respect to a fixed system. The
choice of what system we consider as “fixed” is dependent on the application. For
many engineering problems we can consider the surface of the earth fixed, even
though the earth rotates about its own axis (as well as moves around the sun).
Although effects of the earth’s motion are rather small (see Problem P1.1 where
you can explore what “small” means in more precise terms), it is easy to demonstrate
the effects of the earth’s rotation on the motion of ordinary objects such as a Foucault
pendulum, which is a swinging mass suspended by a long wire that can be found in
many science centers around the world. The mass oscillates in a plane that is
continually changing as a result of the effects of earth’s rotation and those changes
are dependent on the location of the pendulum on the surface of the earth. Many
dynamics (and physics) texts derive the equations of motion for a Foucault pendulum
as a classical example of describing motion in a non-inertial system. We will examine
the Foucault pendulum problem in Chap. 4 when we examine how the Newton-Euler
equations change when we measure motion in moving and rotating coordinate
systems.
4 1 Basic Elements of Dynamics
ey y (t )
x (t )
O ex x
ez z (t )
x (t )
z
where (ex, ey, ez) are fixed (constant) unit vectors along the coordinate axes and the
(x, y, z) Cartesian position vector components are all functions of the time, t. To
obtain the velocity, v(t), of this point we must differentiate this position vector, i.e.,
dx
vð t Þ ¼
dt
dx dy dz
¼ e x þ ey þ ez ð1:3:2Þ
dt dt dt
¼ x_ ex þ y_ ey þ z_ ez
¼ vx ex þ vy ey þ vz ez
In Eq. (1.3.2) we have shown several ways in which we will represent the
components of the velocity vector. First, we have shown the explicit time derivatives
of each coordinate component (dx/dt, etc.). Second, we have used an abbreviated
“overdot” notation to indicate these time derivatives (i.e., dx=dt ¼ x_ ). Finally, we
have simply used a subscript of (x, y, z) to indicate a particular velocity component
along a Cartesian axis (vx ¼ velocity component along the x-axis, etc.). In this book
we will, at various times, use these notations interchangeably. To obtain the accel-
eration, a(t), of the point P we must differentiate the position vector twice:
1.3 Describing Motion in Different Coordinate Systems 5
d2 x
að t Þ ¼
dt 2
d2 x d2 y d2 z
¼ 2 ex þ 2 ey þ 2 ez ð1:3:3Þ
dt dt dt
¼ €xex þ €yey þ €zez
¼ ax e x þ ay e y þ az e z
Again, we have shown several different ways to describe this acceleration where
now “two overdots” indicate two derivatives on time (d2 x=dt 2 ¼ €x, etc.). Since the
acceleration is a derivative of the velocity vector, we also have
dv
að t Þ ¼
dt
dvx dvy dvz ð1:3:4Þ
¼ ex þ ey þ ez
dt dt dt
¼ v_ x ex þ v_ y ey þ v_ z ez
One of the nice things about describing motion in Cartesian inertial coordinates is
that only the scalar components are functions of time since the unit vectors (ex, ey, ez)
are constants. For other choices of coordinates we will lose this feature, making the
expressions for the velocity and acceleration more complex-looking. This loss,
however, is often more than offset by a simpler ability to describe certain motions
in non-Cartesian coordinates. Let us consider here the use of cylindrical coordinates,
(r, θ, z), as shown in Fig. 1.3b. This system is defined in terms of the Cartesian
coordinate system shown in Fig. 1.3a by
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi y
r¼ x2 þ y 2 , θ ¼ tan 1 , z¼z ð1:3:5Þ
x
We can write the position vector of the point P shown in Fig. 1.3 as
z z
r
P
P
x (t ) x (t )
ez z ez
eθ z
ey
O O
ex er
x y y
y θ
x x
(a) (b)
Fig. 1.3 (a) A point P as measured in inertial Cartesian (x, y, z) coordinates and (b) the same point
measured in cylindrical coordinates (r, θ, z)
in terms of two of the three unit vectors (er, eθ, ez) along the (r, θ, z) directions, where
and where from Eq. (1.3.8) we see that eθ ¼ ez er. Unlike the Cartesian unit
vectors, however, these cylindrical coordinate unit vectors are not constants because
as θ changes the orientations of er and eθ will change. In fact, you can see directly by
differentiating the unit vectors in Eq. (1.3.8) that we have
e_ r ¼ θ_ eθ , e_ θ ¼ θ_ er , e_ z ¼ 0 ð1:3:9Þ
v ¼ x_ ¼ r_ er þ re_ r þ z_ ez
ð1:3:10Þ
¼ r_ er þ r θ_ eθ þ z_ ez
is called the centripetal acceleration, and the term 2r_ θ_ which is called the Coriolis
acceleration.
Polar coordinates are a special case of cylindrical coordinates where, if we take
the motion to occur in the z ¼ 0 plane, we have
x ¼ rer
v ¼ r_ er þ r θ_ eθ ð1:3:12Þ
a ¼ €r r θ_ 2 er þ r €θ þ 2r_ θ_ eθ
The unit vector, eϕ, lines in the x–y plane and is in the direction of increasing ϕ
(Fig. 1.4b) so that
R x (t )
θ eR eφ
eφ
O φ y
y
φ eθ φ
x
x
(a) (b)
8 1 Basic Elements of Dynamics
The velocity is
v ¼ x_ ¼ R_ eR þ Re_ R ð1:3:17Þ
so that we need to have the time derivative of eR, which from Eq. (1.3.14) is
e_ R ¼ θ_ cos θ cos ϕex þ sin θey θ_ sin θez
þ ϕ_ sin θ sin ϕex þ cos ϕey ð1:3:18Þ
¼ θ_ eθ þ ϕ_ sin θeϕ
so we need the time derivatives of (eθ, eϕ) which from Eqs. (1.3.15) and (1.3.16) are
This is a rather complex result but again we see terms having squares of first
derivatives. These correspond to centripetal acceleration terms. The mixed deriva-
tive terms are the Coriolis acceleration terms.
1.5 Angular Velocity and the Time Derivative of Unit Vectors 9
Most introductory dynamics books describe variables such as forces and moments,
or velocity and acceleration, as vectors. The vector notation seen in the previous
sections is typically the one in common use. In the following chapters we will also
use matrices and matrix algebra to formulate and solve dynamics problems since
some quantities in dynamics are inherently best described by matrices (see the
moments of inertia in Appendix B, for example) and matrices are indispensable
tools for describing the constrained motion problems found in many engineering
applications. Appendix A gives an overview of the properties of matrices that should
provide sufficient background for the topics found in this book. As shown in that
appendix, vectors can also be treated as special cases of row or column matrices. For
example, we can write a three-dimensional vector, v, in terms of its components in
either of the two matrix forms:
2 3
v1
v ¼ ½v1 ; v2 ; v3 , v ¼ 4 v2 5
v3
and these forms are related through the matrix transpose operation as discussed in
Appendix A, i.e.,
2 3 2 3
v1 v1 T
4 v2 5 ¼ ½ v1 ; v 2 ; v 3 T , 4 v2 5 ¼ ½ v1 ; v2 ; v3
v2 v2
In both cylindrical and spherical coordinates the time derivatives of the unit vectors
were needed to describe the velocity and acceleration in those coordinates. Although
we obtained those time derivatives by writing the unit vectors in a fixed Cartesian
10 1 Basic Elements of Dynamics
de
dθ
sin φ
e (t ) e ( t + dt )
φ dθ de
φ 1
sin φ
Fig. 1.5 (a) A unit vector, e, rotating about the n-axis; (b) a side view of the same geometry; and
(c) a view of the geometry looking down the n-axis
coordinate system and performing the differentiation directly, there is another way to
obtain those time derivatives that is more physically motivated. Since the length of
unit vectors by definition cannot change, all the changes of unit vectors are produced
by the changes of their orientations, i.e., their rotations. Thus, consider a unit vector,
e, which is rotating about an axis defined by the unit vector, n, as shown in Fig. 1.5a.
If the small change (in time dt) of the angle of the unit vector in a plane perpendicular
to n is dθ, as shown, then we can define the angular velocity vector, ω, of the
rotating unit vector as ω ¼ (dθ/dt)n. The change in e during this small rotation is
de ¼ e(t+dt) e(t). From the geometry as shown in Fig. 1.5a–c we see that the
magnitude of de is given as |de| ¼ sin ϕdθ so that the magnitude of the time
derivative is just |de/dt| ¼ sin ϕ dθ/dt and the direction of de/dt is perpendicular to
both n and e(t) in a direction defined by the right-hand rule when we rotate n into e.
But this is just the definition of the cross product of two vectors a and b,
a b ¼ ab sin ϕ u where a and b are the magnitudes of the two vectors, ϕ is the
acute angle between them, and u is a unit vector perpendicular to both a and b in a
direction defined by the right-hand rule when we rotate a into b. We have, therefore,
de
¼ωe ð1:5:1Þ
dt
which is a general relationship that is true for all rotating unit vectors. Equation
(1.5.1) is also true for any vector whose magnitude is constant in time since we can
multiply Eq. (1.5.1) by a constant u and write for u ¼ ue
du
¼ωu ð1:5:2Þ
dt
1.5 Angular Velocity and the Time Derivative of Unit Vectors 11
which is a particularly useful relationship for rigid bodies where the distance
between any two points in the body is fixed.
We can also write Eq. (1.5.1) or (1.5.2) in a matrix form. For example, if we let
e(t) ¼ ex(t)ex+ey(t)ey+ez(t)ez where the unit vectors (ex, ey, ez) are fixed we have
8 9 2 38 9
< e_ x >
> = 0 ωz ωy < ex >
> =
6 7
e_ y ¼ 4 ωz 0 ωx 5 ey ð1:5:3Þ
: >
> ; : >
> ;
e_ z ωy ωx 0 ez
which can be written in more compact form as fe_ g ¼ ½Ωfeg where the vector cross
product has been replaced by a matrix multiplication with a skew matrix [Ω]. In fact,
any 3-D vector cross product can be converted into a skew matrix multiplication
since if we have c ¼ a b then
8 9 2 38 9
< cx >
> = 0 az ay < bx >
> =
6 7
c y ¼ 4 az 0 ax 5 by ð1:5:4Þ
: >
> ; : >
> ;
cz ay ax 0 bz
We can now apply Eq. (1.5.1) to our previous coordinate system examples. In
cylindrical coordinates the unit vectors (er, eθ) both rotate around the z-axis with an
angular speed, θ_ , so that their angular velocity vector, ω, is ω ¼ θ_ ez and we have
e_ r ¼ ω er ¼ θ_ ez er ¼ θ_ eθ
e_ θ ¼ ω eθ ¼ θ_ ez eθ ¼ θ_ er ð1:5:5Þ
e_ z ¼ ω ez ¼ θ_ ez ez ¼ 0
ω ¼ ϕ_ ez þ θ_ eϕ
ð1:5:6Þ
¼ θ_ sin ϕex þ θ_ cos ϕey þ ϕ_ ez
dθ
ω1 = φ ez
dt
ω 2 = q eφ
O O
y
dφ y
φ
dt
x x
(a) (b)
Fig. 1.6 (a) The angular velocity, ω1, due to changes in the angle ϕ in the x–y plane, and (b) the
angular velocity, ω2, due to changes in the angle θ in the constant ϕ-plane
ex ey ez
e_ R ¼ ω eR ¼ θ_ sin ϕ θ_ cos ϕ ϕ_
sin θ cos ϕ sin θ sin ϕ cos θ
¼ ex θ_ cos ϕ cos θ ϕ_ sin θ sin ϕ þ ey θ_ sin ϕ cos θ þ ϕ_ sin θ cos ϕ
ez θ_ sin 2 ϕ sin θ þ θ_ cos 2 ϕ sin θ
¼ θ_ eθ þ ϕ_ sin θeϕ
ð1:5:7Þ
which agrees with our previous result, Eq. (1.3.18). The other two time derivatives,
which we will not show here, can be obtained similarly.
When the Newton-Euler equations are used to describe the motion of rigid bodies
they lead to ordinary differential equations that must be solved in order to obtain the
motion of those rigid bodies and the forces and moments acting on the bodies as a
function of time. Introductory dynamics books and even many intermediate and
advanced texts, however, seldom obtain complete time-dependent solutions except
for linear systems where analytical solutions are available. Instead, students are
taught to solve a large number of problems for velocities and accelerations or forces
and moments at single, specific instants of time. These problems are used to illustrate
a variety of fundamental concepts of dynamics such as work-energy or impulse-
1.6 Objective and Organization of the Book 13
1.7 Problems
P1.1. A point rotating about a fixed origin follows a circular path of radius R. If the
rotational angular velocity, ω, is a constant the point experiences a purely
centripetal acceleration of magnitude Rω2 directed towards the center of
rotation. Determine the ratio of this centripetal acceleration to the acceleration
of gravity at the earth’s surface, g, i.e., compute Rω2/g for:
(a) A point on the surface of the earth at the equator. The radius of the earth is
6.38 103 km.
(b) A point at the center of the earth in its orbit around the Sun. The radius of
the earth’s orbit is 149.6 106 km.
(c) A point at the center of the Sun in its rotation about the center of the
galaxy. The radius of the Sun’s orbit about the center of the galaxy is
2.7 104 light years and its orbital speed is 225 km/s.
These ratios give some indication of how accurate it is to take these points as
“fixed” inertial references.
P1.2. In MATLAB® there is a built-in function named cross that can perform the
cross product of two three-dimensional vectors. Write a MATLAB® function,
S ¼ vect2skew(v), which turns a three-dimensional vector, v, into a 3 3
skew matrix, S, so that the cross product can be implemented by matrix
multiplication. Verify that your function works.
1.7 Problems 15
h(t)
x
ω2
P1.3. A bead slides in a tube which itself is rotating in an x–y plane (Fig. P1.1). If the
tube is rotating about the z-axis with a constant angular velocity ψ_ ¼ ω, and
the distance, h, is changing such that h_ ¼ v0 ðt Þ and €h ¼ a0 ðt Þ, where v0
and a0 are radial velocity and acceleration terms, determine, using polar
coordinates, expressions for the absolute velocity and acceleration of the
bead in terms of h, ω, ψ, v0, and a0. What are these expressions when the
bead passes through the origin of the x–y coordinates (h ¼ 0)?
P1.4. A wheel of radius R spins at a constant speed, ω1, about its own axis which is
placed in a gimbal mount which in turn rotates at a constant speed, ω2, as
shown in Fig. P1.2. The axis of the wheel stays in a horizontal plane and the
center point, O, of the wheel is stationary. (a) Using spherical coordinates,
determine the acceleration of any point, P, on the rim of the wheel at the
instant when the wheel is in the position shown, and (b) find the acceleration in
the special cases when point P is at the top of the wheel (θ ¼ 0) and in the x–y
plane (θ ¼ π/2). How would you have to modify these results to obtain an
expression for the acceleration of a point P on the rim that is valid for any
instant of time?
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light.
“What have you got there, dear?” she asked.
“Wah,” said little Braid, a child of few words, proceeding with his
activities.
Jane rose and walked across the room. A sudden feeling had
come to her, the remorseful feeling that for some time now she had
been neglecting the child. How seldom nowadays did she trouble to
join in his pastimes!
“Let mother play too,” she said, gently. “What are you playing?
Trains?”
“Golf.”
Jane uttered a sharp exclamation. With a keen pang she saw that
what the child had got hold of was William’s spare mashie. So he
had left it behind after all! Since the night of his departure it must
have been lying unnoticed behind some chair or sofa.
For a moment the only sensation Jane felt was an accentuation of
that desolate feeling which had been with her all day. How many a
time had she stood by William and watched him foozle with this club!
Inextricably associated with him it was, and her eyes filled with
sudden tears. And then she was abruptly conscious of a new, a more
violent emotion, something akin to panic fear. She blinked, hoping
against hope that she had been mistaken. But no. When she opened
her eyes and looked again she saw what she had seen before.
The child was holding the mashie all wrong.
“Braid!” gasped Jane in an agony.
All the mother-love in her was shrieking at her, reproaching her.
She realised now how paltry, how greedily self-centred she had
been. Thinking only of her own pleasures, how sorely she had
neglected her duty as a mother! Long ere this, had she been worthy
of that sacred relation, she would have been brooding over her child,
teaching him at her knee the correct Vardon grip, shielding him from
bad habits, seeing to it that he did not get his hands in front of the
ball, putting him on the right path as regarded the slow back-swing.
But, absorbed in herself, she had sacrificed him to her shallow
ambitions. And now there he was, grasping the club as if it had been
a spade and scooping with it like one of those twenty-four handicap
men whom the hot weather brings out on seaside links.
She shuddered to the very depths of her soul. Before her eyes
there rose a vision of her son, grown to manhood, reproaching her.
“If you had but taught me the facts of life when I was a child, mother,”
she seemed to hear him say, “I would not now be going round in a
hundred and twenty, rising to a hundred and forty in anything like a
high wind.”
She snatched the club from his hands with a passionate cry. And
at this precise moment in came Rodney Spelvin, all ready for tea.
“Ah, little one!” said Rodney Spelvin, gaily.
Something in her appearance must have startled him, for he
stopped and looked at her with concern.
“Are you ill?” he asked.
Jane pulled herself together with an effort.
“No, quite well. Ha, ha!” she replied, hysterically.
She stared at him wildly, as she might have stared at a caterpillar
in her salad. If it had not been for this man, she felt, she would have
been with William in their snug little cottage, a happy wife. If it had
not been for this man, her only child would have been laying the
foundations of a correct swing under the eyes of a conscientious pro.
If it had not been for this man—She waved him distractedly to the
door.
“Good-bye,” she said. “Thank you so much for calling.”
Rodney Spelvin gaped. This had been the quickest and most
tealess tea-party he had ever assisted at.
“You want me to go?” he said, incredulously.
“Yes, go! go!”
Rodney Spelvin cast a wistful glance at the gate-leg table. He had
had a light lunch, and the sight of the seed-cake affected him deeply.
But there seemed nothing to be done. He moved reluctantly to the
door.
“Well, good-bye,” he said. “Thanks for a very pleasant afternoon.”
“So glad to have seen you,” said Jane, mechanically.
The door closed. Jane returned to her thoughts. But she was not
alone for long. A few minutes later there entered the female cubist
painter from downstairs, a manly young woman with whom she had
become fairly intimate.
“Oh, Bates, old chap!” said the cubist painter.
Jane looked up.
“Yes, Osbaldistone?”
“Just came in to borrow a cigarette. Used up all mine.”
“So have I, I’m afraid.”
“Too bad. Oh, well,” said Miss Osbaldistone, resignedly, “I suppose
I’ll have to go out and get wet. I wish I had had the sense to stop
Rodney Spelvin and send him. I met him on the stairs.”
“Yes, he was in here just now,” said Jane.
Miss Osbaldistone laughed in her hearty manly way.
“Good boy, Rodney,” she said, “but too smooth for my taste. A little
too ready with the salve.”
“Yes?” said Jane, absently.
“Has he pulled that one on you yet about your being the original of
the heroine of The Purple Fan?”
“Why, yes,” said Jane, surprised. “He did tell me that he had drawn
Eulalie from me.”
Her visitor emitted another laugh that shook the samovars.
“He tells every girl he meets the same thing.”
“What!”
“Oh yes. It’s his first move. He actually had the nerve to try to
spring it on me. Mind you, I’m not saying it’s a bad stunt. Most girls
like it. You’re sure you’ve no cigarettes? No? Well, how about a shot
of cocaine? Out of that too? Oh, well, I’ll be going, then. Pip-pip,
Bates.”
“Toodle-oo, Osbaldistone,” said Jane, dizzily. Her brain was
reeling. She groped her way to the table, and in a sort of trance cut
herself a slice of cake.
“Wah!” said little Braid Vardon. He toddled forward, anxious to
count himself in on the share-out.
Jane gave him some cake. Having ruined his life, it was, she felt,
the least she could do. In a spasm of belated maternal love she also
slipped him a jam-sandwich. But how trivial and useless these things
seemed now.
“Braid!” she cried, suddenly.
“What?”
“Come here.”
“Why?”
“Let mother show you how to hold that mashie.”
“What’s a mashie?”
A new gash opened in Jane’s heart. Four years old, and he didn’t
know what a mashie was. And at only a slightly advanced age Bobby
Jones had been playing in the American Open Championship.
“This is a mashie,” she said, controlling her voice with difficulty.
“Why?”
“It is called a mashie.”
“What is?”
“This club.”
“Why?”
The conversation was becoming too metaphysical for Jane. She
took the club from him and closed her hands over it.
“Now, look, dear,” she said, tenderly. “Watch how mother does it.
She puts the fingers—”
A voice spoke, a voice that had been absent all too long from
Jane’s life.
“You’ll pardon me, old girl, but you’ve got the right hand much too
far over. You’ll hook for a certainty.”
In the doorway, large and dripping, stood William. Jane stared at
him dumbly.
“William!” she gasped at length.
“Hullo, Jane!” said William. “Hullo, Braid! Thought I’d look in.”
There was a long silence.
“Beastly weather,” said William.
“Yes,” said Jane.
“Wet and all that,” said William.
“Yes,” said Jane.
There was another silence.
“Oh, by the way, Jane,” said William. “Knew there was something I
wanted to say. You know those violets?”
“Violets?”
“White violets. You remember those white violets I’ve been
sending you every year on our wedding anniversary? Well, what I
mean to say, our lives are parted and all that sort of thing, but you
won’t mind if I go on sending them—what? Won’t hurt you, what I’m
driving at, and’ll please me, see what I mean? So, well, to put the
thing in a nutshell, if you haven’t any objection, that’s that.”
Jane reeled against the gate-leg table.
“William! Was it you who sent those violets?”
“Absolutely. Who did you think it was?”
“William!” cried Jane, and flung herself into his arms.
William scooped her up gratefully. This was the sort of thing he
had been wanting for weeks past. He could do with a lot of this. He
wouldn’t have suggested it himself, but, seeing that she felt that way,
he was all for it.
“William,” said Jane, “can you ever forgive me?”
“Oh, rather,” said William. “Like a shot. Though, I mean to say,
nothing to forgive, and all that sort of thing.”
“We’ll go back right away to our dear little cottage.”
“Fine!”
“We’ll never leave it again.”
“Topping!”
“I love you,” said Jane, “more than life itself.”
“Good egg!” said William.
Jane turned with shining eyes to little Braid Vardon.
“Braid, we’re going home with daddy!”
“Where?”
“Home. To our little cottage.”
“What’s a cottage?”
“The house where we used to be before we came here.”
“What’s here?”
“This is.”
“Which?”
“Where we are now.”
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you what, old girl,” said William. “Just shove a green-baize
cloth over that kid, and then start in and brew me about five pints of
tea as strong and hot as you can jolly well make it. Otherwise I’m
going to get the cold of a lifetime.”
CHAPTER IX
THE PURIFICATION OF RODNEY SPELVIN
It was an afternoon on which one would have said that all Nature
smiled. The air was soft and balmy; the links, fresh from the rains of
spring, glistened in the pleasant sunshine; and down on the second
tee young Clifford Wimple, in a new suit of plus-fours, had just sunk
two balls in the lake, and was about to sink a third. No element, in
short, was lacking that might be supposed to make for quiet
happiness.
And yet on the forehead of the Oldest Member, as he sat beneath
the chestnut tree on the terrace overlooking the ninth green, there
was a peevish frown; and his eye, gazing down at the rolling
expanse of turf, lacked its customary genial benevolence. His
favourite chair, consecrated to his private and personal use by
unwritten law, had been occupied by another. That is the worst of a
free country—liberty so often degenerates into licence.
The Oldest Member coughed.
“I trust,” he said, “you find that chair comfortable?”
The intruder, who was the club’s hitherto spotless secretary,
glanced up in a goofy manner.
“Eh?”
“That chair—you find it fits snugly to the figure?”
“Chair? Figure? Oh, you mean this chair? Oh yes.”
“I am gratified and relieved,” said the Oldest Member.
There was a silence.
“Look here,” said the secretary, “what would you do in a case like
this? You know I’m engaged?”
“I do. And no doubt your fiancée is missing you. Why not go in
search of her?”
“She’s the sweetest girl on earth.”
“I should lose no time.”
“But jealous. And just now I was in my office, and that Mrs.
Pettigrew came in to ask if there was any news of the purse which
she lost a couple of days ago. It had just been brought to my office,
so I produced it; whereupon the infernal woman, in a most unsuitably
girlish manner, flung her arms round my neck and kissed me on my
bald spot. And at that moment Adela came in. Death,” said the
secretary, “where is thy sting?”
The Oldest Member’s pique melted. He had a feeling heart.
“Most unfortunate. What did you say?”
“I hadn’t time to say anything. She shot out too quick.”
The Oldest Member clicked his tongue sympathetically.
“These misunderstandings between young and ardent hearts are
very frequent,” he said. “I could tell you at least fifty cases of the
same kind. The one which I will select is the story of Jane Packard,
William Bates, and Rodney Spelvin.”
“You told me that the other day. Jane Packard got engaged to
Rodney Spelvin, the poet, but the madness passed and she married
William Bates, who was a golfer.”
“This is another story of the trio.”
“You told me that one, too. After Jane Packard married William
Bates she fell once more under the spell of Spelvin, but repented in
time.”
“This is still another story. Making three in all.”
The secretary buried his face in his hands.
“Oh, well,” he said, “go ahead. What does anything matter now?”
“First,” said the Oldest Member, “let us make ourselves
comfortable. Take this chair. It is easier than the one in which you
are sitting.”
“No, thanks.”
“I insist.”
“Oh, all right.”
“Woof!” said the Oldest Member, settling himself luxuriously.
With an eye now full of kindly good-will, he watched young Clifford
Wimple play his fourth. Then, as the silver drops flashed up into the
sun, he nodded approvingly and began.
The story which I am about to relate (said the Oldest Member)
begins at a time when Jane and William had been married some
seven years. Jane’s handicap was eleven, William’s twelve, and their
little son, Braid Vardon, had just celebrated his sixth birthday.
Ever since that dreadful time, two years before, when, lured by the
glamour of Rodney Spelvin, she had taken a studio in the artistic
quarter, dropped her golf, and practically learned to play the ukelele,
Jane had been unremitting in her efforts to be a good mother and to
bring up her son on the strictest principles. And, in order that his
growing mind might have every chance, she had invited William’s
younger sister, Anastatia, to spend a week or two with them and put
the child right on the true functions of the mashie. For Anastatia had
reached the semi-finals of the last Ladies’ Open Championship and,
unlike many excellent players, had the knack of teaching.
On the evening on which this story opens the two women were
sitting in the drawing-room, chatting. They had finished tea; and
Anastatia, with the aid of a lump of sugar, a spoon, and some
crumbled cake, was illustrating the method by which she had got out
of the rough on the fifth at Squashy Hollow.
“You’re wonderful!” said Jane, admiringly. “And such a good
influence for Braid! You’ll give him his lesson to-morrow afternoon as
usual?”
“I shall have to make it the morning,” said Anastatia. “I’ve
promised to meet a man in town in the afternoon.”
As she spoke there came into her face a look so soft and dreamy
that it aroused Jane as if a bradawl had been driven into her leg. As
her history has already shown, there was a strong streak of romance
in Jane Bates.
“Who is he?” she asked, excitedly.
“A man I met last summer,” said Anastatia.
And she sighed with such abandon that Jane could no longer hold
in check her womanly nosiness.
“Do you love him?” she cried.
“Like bricks,” whispered Anastatia.
“Does he love you?”
“Sometimes I think so.”
“What’s his name?”
“Rodney Spelvin.”
“What!”
“Oh, I know he writes the most awful bilge,” said Anastatia,
defensively, misinterpreting the yowl of horror which had proceeded
from Jane. “All the same, he’s a darling.”
Jane could not speak. She stared at her sister-in-law aghast.
Although she knew that if you put a driver in her hands she could
paste the ball into the next county, there always seemed to her
something fragile and helpless about Anastatia. William’s sister was
one of those small, rose-leaf girls with big blue eyes to whom good
men instinctively want to give a stroke a hole and on whom bad men
automatically prey. And when Jane reflected that Rodney Spelvin
had to all intents and purposes preyed upon herself, who stood five
foot seven in her shoes and, but for an innate love of animals, could
have felled an ox with a blow, she shuddered at the thought of how
he would prey on this innocent half-portion.
“You really love him?” she quavered.
“If he beckoned to me in the middle of a medal round, I would
come to him,” said Anastatia.
Jane realised that further words were useless. A sickening sense
of helplessness obsessed her. Something ought to be done about
this terrible thing, but what could she do? She was so ashamed of
her past madness that not even to warn this girl could she reveal that
she had once been engaged to Rodney Spelvin herself; that he had
recited poetry on the green while she was putting; and that, later, he
had hypnotised her into taking William and little Braid to live in a
studio full of samovars. These revelations would no doubt open
Anastatia’s eyes, but she could not make them.
And then, suddenly, Fate pointed out a way.
It was Jane’s practice to go twice a week to the cinema palace in
the village; and two nights later she set forth as usual and took her
place just as the entertainment was about to begin.
At first she was only mildly interested. The title of the picture,
“Tried in the Furnace,” had suggested nothing to her. Being a regular
patron of the silver screen, she knew that it might quite easily turn
out to be an educational film on the subject of clinker-coal. But as the
action began to develop she found herself leaning forward in her
seat, blindly crushing a caramel between her fingers. For scarcely
had the operator started to turn the crank when inspiration came to
her.
Of the main plot of “Tried in the Furnace” she retained, when
finally she reeled out into the open air, only a confused recollection.
It had something to do with money not bringing happiness or
happiness not bringing money, she could not remember which. But
the part which remained graven upon her mind was the bit where
Gloria Gooch goes by night to the apartments of the libertine, to beg
him to spare her sister, whom he has entangled in his toils.
Jane saw her duty clearly. She must go to Rodney Spelvin and
conjure him by the memory of their ancient love to spare Anastatia.
It was not the easiest of tasks to put this scheme into operation.
Gloria Gooch, being married to a scholarly man who spent nearly all
his time in a library a hundred yards long, had been fortunately
situated in the matter of paying visits to libertines; but for Jane the
job was more difficult. William expected her to play a couple of
rounds with him in the morning and another in the afternoon, which
rather cut into her time. However, Fate was still on her side, for one
morning at breakfast William announced that business called him to
town.
“Why don’t you come too?” he said.
Jane started.
“No. No, I don’t think I will, thanks.”
“Give you lunch somewhere.”
“No. I want to stay here and do some practice-putting.”
“All right. I’ll try to get back in time for a round in the evening.”
Remorse gnawed at Jane’s vitals. She had never deceived William
before. She kissed him with even more than her usual fondness
when he left to catch the ten-forty-five. She waved to him till he was
out of sight; then, bounding back into the house, leaped at the
telephone and, after a series of conversations with the Marks-Morris
Glue Factory, the Poor Pussy Home for Indigent Cats, and Messrs.
Oakes, Oakes, and Parbury, dealers in fancy goods, at last found
herself in communication with Rodney Spelvin.
“Rodney?” she said, and held her breath, fearful at this breaking of
a two years’ silence and yet loath to hear another strange voice say
“Wadnumjerwant?” “Is that you, Rodney?”
“Yes. Who is that?”
“Mrs. Bates. Rodney, can you give me lunch at the Alcazar to-day
at one?”
“Can I!” Not even the fact that some unknown basso had got on
the wire and was asking if that was Mr. Bootle could blur the
enthusiasm in his voice. “I should say so!”
“One o’clock, then,” said Jane. His enthusiastic response had
relieved her. If by merely speaking she could stir him so, to bend him
to her will when they met face to face would be pie.
“One o’clock,” said Rodney.
Jane hung up the receiver and went to her room to try on hats.
The impression came to Jane, when she entered the lobby of the
restaurant and saw him waiting, that Rodney Spelvin looked
somehow different from the Rodney she remembered. His
handsome face had a deeper and more thoughtful expression, as if
he had been through some ennobling experience.
“Well, here I am,” she said, going to him and affecting a jauntiness
which she did not feel.
He looked at her, and there was in his eyes that unmistakable
goggle which comes to men suddenly addressed in a public spot by
women whom, to the best of their recollection, they do not know from
Eve.
“How are you?” he said. He seemed to pull himself together.
“You’re looking splendid.”
“You’re looking fine,” said Jane.
“You’re looking awfully well,” said Rodney.
“You’re looking awfully well,” said Jane.
“You’re looking fine,” said Rodney.
There was a pause.
“You’ll excuse my glancing at my watch,” said Rodney. “I have an
appointment to lunch with—er—somebody here, and it’s past the
time.”
“But you’re lunching with me,” said Jane, puzzled.
“With you?”
“Yes. I rang you up this morning.”
Rodney gaped.
“Was it you who ’phoned? I thought you said ‘Miss Bates.’”
“No, Mrs. Bates.”
“Mrs. Bates?”
“Mrs. Bates.”
“Of course. You’re Mrs. Bates.”
“Had you forgotten me?” said Jane, in spite of herself a little
piqued.
“Forgotten you, dear lady! As if I could!” said Rodney, with a return
of his old manner. “Well, shall we go in and have lunch?”
“All right,” said Jane.
She felt embarrassed and ill at ease. The fact that Rodney had
obviously succeeded in remembering her only after the effort of a
lifetime seemed to her to fling a spanner into the machinery of her
plans at the very outset. It was going to be difficult, she realised, to
conjure him by the memory of their ancient love to spare Anastatia;
for the whole essence of the idea of conjuring any one by the
memory of their ancient love is that the party of the second part
should be aware that there ever was such a thing.
At the luncheon-table conversation proceeded fitfully. Rodney said
that this morning he could have sworn it was going to rain, and Jane
said she had thought so, too, and Rodney said that now it looked as
if the weather might hold up, and Jane said Yes, didn’t it? and
Rodney said he hoped the weather would hold up because rain was
such a nuisance, and Jane said Yes, wasn’t it? Rodney said
yesterday had been a nice day, and Jane said Yes, and Rodney said
that it seemed to be getting a little warmer, and Jane said Yes, and
Rodney said that summer would be here at any moment now, and
Jane said Yes, wouldn’t it? and Rodney said he hoped it would not
be too hot this summer, but that, as a matter of fact, when you came
right down to it, what one minded was not so much the heat as the
humidity, and Jane said Yes, didn’t one?
In short, by the time they rose and left the restaurant, not a word
had been spoken that could have provoked the censure of the
sternest critic. Yet William Bates, catching sight of them as they
passed down the aisle, started as if he had been struck by lightning.
He had happened to find himself near the Alcazar at lunch-time and
had dropped in for a chop; and, peering round the pillar which had
hidden his table from theirs, he stared after them with saucer-like
eyes.
“Oh, dash it!” said William.
This William Bates, I have indicated in my previous references to
him, was not an abnormally emotional or temperamental man. Built
physically on the lines of a motor-lorry, he had much of that vehicle’s
placid and even phlegmatic outlook on life. Few things had the
power to ruffle William, but, unfortunately, it so happened that one of
these things was Rodney Spelvin. He had never been able entirely
to overcome his jealousy of this man. It had been Rodney who had
come within an ace of scooping Jane from him in the days when she
had been Miss Packard. It had been Rodney who had temporarily
broken up his home some years later by persuading Jane to become
a member of the artistic set. And now, unless his eyes jolly well
deceived him, this human gumboil was once more busy on his
dastardly work. Too dashed thick, was William’s view of the matter;
and he gnashed his teeth in such a spasm of resentful fury that a
man lunching at the next table told the waiter to switch off the electric
fan, as it had begun to creak unendurably.
Anastatia came back from her visit late that night. She took her
letter, and read it without comment. At breakfast next morning she
said that she would be compelled to go into town that day.
“I want to see my dressmaker,” she said.
“I’ll come, too,” said Jane. “I want to see my dentist.”