Lafayette College

Department of Physics
April 15, 2012 Physics 131 Level II Homework Set Section 3

You may discuss these problems with one or two other students (or with your instructor), but your nal solutions should be written out by you alone. Under no circumstances should you see another students written solutions. If you have discussed these problems with anyone (including any instructor) you must acknowledge the collaboration at the beginning of the corresponding problem. Homework is due in my ofce by the evening of the due date and solutions will then be made available on the course web site: http://workbench.lafayette.edu/novacoad/Courses/Phys131/Spring.12.html No homework will be accepted after this time. You are expected to carefully explain how, starting from basic principles, you have arrived at your answers. Please do not use paper with edges frayed from being ripped out of a spiral bound notebook. If the papers are illegible or disorganized, we reserve the right to return these papers without being graded. Unless instructed otherwise, all answers should be correct to 3 or 4 sig. gs. Assignment 12: Due Thursday, April 19, 2012

Problem 1: Using the diagrams given out in class (you can also stop by my ofce), nd the torque on the torsional ber attached to the suspended dumbbell. The diagram has all the needed values. Problem 2: Show that if an extended body is placed in a uniform gravitational eld, the torque on this object is equivalent to a the net gravitational force acting at the center of mass as a single force. You must rst nd the total gravitational force acting on an extended body. Also show that the gravitational potential energy is that of this same single effective force. Start from the sum over all particles in the body for each of these calculations and explain your steps. Problem 3: Consider an electric dipole placed in a uniform electric eld. Show that the net force on this dipole is zero and the net torque is given by p E , that is the cross product of the dipole moment and the electric eld. Problem 4: Consider the race of the hoops problem we did in class. Now analyze this problem by nding the linear acceleration of the hoops and using kinematics to nd the time it takes each to reach the bottom of the ramp. You will need to do this by looking at both the acceleration of the center of mass and the angular acceleration about the center of mass. Assume the rolling without slipping condition.

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April 15, 2012 Page 2 Problem 5: At time zero, an object is rotating about the y-axis with an angular velocity . This object consists of two masses, each of mass m. The rst mass is located at y = H and x = D and the second is located at y = H and x = D. Calculate the angular momentum vector about the origin, and show that it is not in the direction of the angular velocity, namely the y-axis. Now add two more masses at points such that the body forms a symmetric X. Show that the angular momentum of this symmetric body is aligned with the angular velocity vector. This is the physics behind the dynamical balancing of the tires on your car. If the angular momentum of an object is not aligned with the angular velocity, a torque is required to keep the object rotating about the xed axis given by . This creates major wear and tear on your wheel bearings.