CLASSICAL MECHANICS Problems

Prof M. Brouard 4 Lectures 1. (a) What do you understand by the term equations of motion?
(b) An electron, initially travelling with speed v0 at an angle θ to the horizontal,
enters a region of length L between two parallel, horizontal charged plates,
where it experiences a constant vertical acceleration, α.
Summary You may assume that the electron beam is initially directed towards the
negatively charged plate. Any effects due to gravity may be neglected.
1. Translational motion: Position, velocity and acceleration; Vectors and their i. Write down the equations of motion for the electron.
addition; Newton’s 1st and 2nd laws of motion. ii. Show that the electron will enter and exit the plates at the same vertical
2. Momentum and Energy Conservation: Newton’s 3rd Law and conservation of displacement if the vertical acceleration is given by
linear momentum; Work, kinetic, and potential energy; Conservation of energy.
2v02
α= sin θ cos θ
3. Rotational motion: Systems of particles and centre-of-mass; Angular velocity; L
Moments of inertia and angular momentum; Centripetal force and acceleration; iii. Show that under these circumstances the electron will emerge from the
Conservation of angular momentum. plates at an angle −θ to the horizontal.
4. Vibrational motion: Simple harmonic oscillator; Energy conservation; Travel-
ling harmonic waves; Principle of linear superposition; standing and resonant
standing harmonic waves. 2. (a) State Newton’s three laws of motion, and for each law give one example of
motion that illustrates it.
(b) What factors determine the trajectory of a particle in classical mechanics?
(c) A ball-bearing of mass, m, initially at rest, falls vertically under the influ-
Recommended Texts ence of gravity through a viscous fluid, which exerts a retarding force of
Cv, where C is a constant, and v is the speed of the ball-bearing. Assume
that the acceleration due to gravity is a constant, g.
1. ‘Foundations of Physics for Chemists’, Oxford Chemistry Primer 93, G.A.D. i. Make a sketch illustrating the forces acting on the ball-bearing and
Ritchie and D.S. Sivia, 2000. write down its equation of motion.
ii. Show that, at time t (measured from the moment of release), the speed
2. ‘The Feynman Lectures on Physics’, Volume I, Addison-Wesley Publishing Com-
of the ball-bearing is described by the equation
pany, Reading, Massachesetts, 1963.
mg ³ ´
3. ‘University Physics’, Harris Benson, John Wiley and Sons Inc., USA, 1991. v= 1 − e−Ct/m
C
4. Numerous A’Level texts... iii. Sketch the time dependence of the speed of the ball-bearing and deter-
mine its terminal speed. How would you calculate the time dependent
position of the ball-bearing?

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3. (a) Define the terms linear momentum and kinetic energy. How are the two i. Assume that the particle rotates in the xy plane, and at time t = 0 lies
quantities related? How is the change in kinetic energy related to the work along the x axis. Write down expressions for the x and y coordinates
done by a (conservative) force? of the particle as a function of time, t.
(b) Define the term potential energy. How is the change in potential energy ii. Show that the linear velocity of the particle, v, has magnitude αω and
related to the work done by a (conservative) force? In the light of your is directed tangentially to the orbital motion (i.e. perpendicular to its
answer to (a), what is the significance of this result? position vector r).
(c) The potential energy between two argon atoms varies with the interatomic iii. Show that the radial (centripetal) acceleration of the particle has mag-
separation, r, approximately according to the equation nitude ar = αω 2 and is directed in the opposite direction to the position
vector r.
·³ ´ ¸
σ 12 ³ σ ´6
V (r) = 4² − (b) Define the term angular momentum.
r r
(c) What is the moment of inertia, I, of the particle described in part (a)?
with ² = 1.7 × 10−21 J and σ = 3.4 × 10−10 m.
(d) Expressing your answers in terms of I, determine the angular momentum
i. Sketch the variation in potential energy as a function of argon atom and the angular kinetic energy of the particle defined in part (a). How are
separation. the two quantities related?
ii. How does the force exerted on the argon atoms vary with atomic sepa-
ration? At what separations is the force between the atoms attractive
and at what separations is it repulsive? 6. The rigid rotor model for rotation of an isolated diatomic molecule comprises
two point masses, m1 and m2 , separated at a fixed bond length, r.

(a) Explain why the rotational motion must occur about the an axis which
4. Two argon atoms (A and B) of mass m = 6.6 × 10−26 kg undergo a head-on
passes through the centre-of-mass of the molecule. Why is the angular
collision. Atom A has an initial speed of 400 m s−1 while the second atom B
momentum of the molecule conserved?
is stationary. You may assume that the interaction potential is as described in
question 3(c). (b) Show that the moment of inertia for the molecule is given by

(a) What is the distance of closest approach of the two argon atoms, r0 ? m1 m2
6
I = µr2 ; µ=
[Use energy conservation and make the substitution x = (σ/r) .] m1 + m2
(b) What is the speed of the two argon atoms at r0 ? (c) Assuming that both HCl and DCl have bond lengths, r = 1.27 × 10−10 m,
(c) What is the acceleration between the atoms at r0 ? evaluate their moments of inertia.
(d) An elastic collision is one which conserves kinetic energy (in addition to (d) The average rotational kinetic energy of a molecule at temperature T is
total energy and momentum, which are conserved in all collisions). The kB T , where kB is the Boltzmann constant (this comes from the equipartition
collision between two Ar atoms is elastic. principle).
Given this fact, what are the final velocities of the atoms after the collision? Use this fact to determine the average angular velocity and the average
angular momentum of HCl and DCl at 300 K. Comment on the results you
obtain.
5. (a) A particle of mass m undergoes uniform rotational motion at a constant
[Take mCl = 35 u, mH = 1 u, and mD = 2 u, where u is the atomic mass unit.]
angular frequency ω. The particle is held fixed at a constant radius α from
the axis of rotation.

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7. The following expression describes the time dependence of the displacement of 8. The y-axis displacement of a harmonic wave travelling in the +x direction may
a harmonic oscillator with force constant k and of effective mass µ from its rest be represented by the function
position
s y(x, t) = A sin (kx − ωt + φ)
k
x(t) = A sin(ωt + φ) where ω = where t is the time.
µ

ω is the angular frequency of the oscillator, and φ determines the phase of the (a) i. Define the parameters A, k, ω and φ appearing in this equation.
oscillation. ii. How are k and ω related to the wavelength, λ, and the period, T , of
the wave?
(a) Use this expression to determine how the velocity, v(t), of the oscillator iii. How far does the wave travel from time t = 0 to t = T ? Show that the
varies with time. wave velocity is given by v = f λ, where the frequency f = 1/T .
(b) Using the above expression for x(t), together with your result for v(t) (b) A standing harmonic wave may be represented by the equation
in part (a), show that the total energy, E, of a harmonic oscillator is
conserved. y(x, t) = B(t) sin (kx + φ)
(c) The vibrations of a diatomic molecule can be described approximately using
the harmonic oscillator model. where B(t) is the time dependent amplitude of the wave.

i. Show that for such a system the effective mass is given by the expres- i. With the help of sketches, illustrate the time dependence of the wave
sion motion.
ii. Show that such a wave can be constructed from superposition of two
m1 m2 counter-propagating harmonic waves of the same frequency, amplitude
µ=
m1 + m2 and phase, and derive an equation for B(t).
where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two atoms.
[Note that sin X + sin Y = 2 sin 12 (X + Y ) cos 12 (X − Y ) .]
ii. The angular frequencies of the vibrations in H35 Cl and D35 Cl are
iii. Show that a resonant standing wave, with fixed nodes at x = 0 and
5.634 × 1014 rad s−1 and 4.041× 1014 rad s−1 respectively. Determine
x = L, will generate harmonics at the following frequencies
the force constants for the two molecules. Comment on your results.
iii. Using your results from part (c)i, sketch the variations of the potential nv
f= n = 1, 2, 3, · · ·
energy, V (x), and the force, F (x), with displacement for H35 Cl and 2L
D35 Cl.
35
[Take the masses of H, D and Cl to be 1.008 u, 2.014 u and 34.969 u.]