Solution to INPhO 2002 P4

PhysicsMonster01
January 27, 2020

1 Problem
A cylindrical container containing mercury is rotating about a vertical axis. The
liquid surface is curved as shown. It is well known that the equation of a cross
sectional view of this curve is the parabola

ω2 2
y= x
2g
.
Let the angular speed given to the rotating liquid be realised by a constant
power source. The rotation is started from rest at t = 0, then the focal length
f depends on time as f ∝ tn . Find the exponent n. Neglect surface tension
effects. Assume |x| << R. Assume equilibrium is attained so that the entire
mass of the liquid is rotating with the same angular speed ω.

2 Solution
So, we have the equation of cross section of the surface a parabola:

ω2 2
y= x
2g

1
To calculate the moment of inertia of the fluid at any time t as shown, we
can add up the moment of inertias of both the cylindrical and the paraboloid
portions. First we calculate the moment of inertia of the fluid at any time t.

2.1 Moment of inertia of the fluid

To calculate the moment of inertia of the fluid at any time t as shown, we
can add up the moment of inertias of both the cylindrical and the paraboloid
portions.

2.1.1 Moment of inertia of the Paraboloid

We add up the moment of inertia of small rings of inner radius x and outer
radius R. So we have
2
dm 2 2 ρdV 2 2 ρπ(R2 − x2 )dy 2 2 ρπ(R2 − x2 )( ω 2g
xdx
) 2 2
dIparaboloid = (R +x ) = (R +x ) = (R +x ) = (R +x )
2 2 2 2

ρπω 2 R ρπω 2 R6
Z
=⇒ Iparaboloid = x(R4 − x4 )dx =
2g x=0 6g

2.1.2 Moment of Inertia of the Cylinder

Moment of the cylinder can be calculated simply by adding the moment of
inertia of all the thin elemental discs. So we get
1
Icylinder = ρπR4 (h0 − x0 )
2
So the moment of inertia of the fluid at any time is given as

ρπω 2 R6 1
I = Icylinder + Iparaboloid = + ρπR4 (h0 − x0 )
6g 2

2
 Now, we need to calculate
dK d( 1 Iω 2 ) ω 2 dI dω
P = = 2 = + Iω
dt dt 2 dt dt
dI
So first we calculate dt .

dI
2.2 Calculation of dt
dI ρπR6 dω ρπR4 dx0
= ω − ·
dt 3g dt 2 dt
dx0
Here dt is the speed of the bottom-most point.

dx0
2.2.1 Calculation of dt
dx0
To calculate dt , we use the following lemmas:

Lemma 1
Volume of a paraboloid is half of its circumscribing cylinder.

Proof : Well known and left as an exercise to the reader.

Lemma 2
If the fluid particles at the bottom-most point of the paraboloid go down
by a distance x and the particles at the maximum height go up by a
distance y, we have
ω 2 R2
x=y=
4g

Proof :
1 ω 2 R2
P0 + ρω 2 (R2 − 02 ) − ρg(x + y) = P0 =⇒ x + y =
2 2g
and by volume conservation and Lemma 1 we have
πR2 (x + y)
πR2 H = πR2 (H − x) + =⇒ x = y
2
Combining both the results the lemma is proved.

Lemma 3

R
r= √
2

3
 Proof : From Lemma 2, since x = y, we have

ω 2 R2 h ω2 r2 R
h= and = =⇒ r = √
2g 2 2g 2
dI dx0
Coming back to the calculation of dt , we calculate dt from Lemma 2 as

ω 2 R2 dx0 R2 dω
x0 = =⇒ = ·ω
4g dt 2g dt

dI
Inserting this in the expression for dt obtained earlier we have

dI ρπR6 dω ρπR4 R2 dω
= ω − · ·ω
dt 3g dt 2 2g dt

dI ρπR6 ωdω
=⇒ = ·
dt 12g dt

Now
ω 2 dI dω ρπR4 x0 dω ρπR6 ω 3 dω 1 1 1 ρπR4 x0 dω ρπR6 ω 3 dω
P = +Iω = ·ω + ( + − )= ·ω +
2 dt dt 2 dt gdt 24 6 8 2 dt 12gdt
And from lemma 2 and lemma 3, we have

ω2 R 2 ω 2 R2
x0 = · (√ ) =
2g 2 4g

So finally the expression for power is (inserting value of h0 )

2 2
ρπR4 ( ω 4gR ) dω ρπR6 ω 3 dω 5ρπR6 ω 3 dω
P = ·ω + =
2 dt 12gdt 24gdt

And since power supplied is a constant, we rearrange and integrate to obtain

Z t
5ρπR6 ω 3
Z
dt = ω dω
t=0 24P g ω=0
1
ω ∝ t− 4
ω2 2
And for the parabolic mirror of the form x2 = 4ay compared to y = 2g x gives

g 1
a=f = =⇒ f ∝ t− 2
2ω 2

4
3 A Note to the Readers
One can easily obtain the right answer by not writing down all the proper
expressions (treating them as poorly defined constants) and obtain the moment
of inertia as of the form I = a + bω 2 and so on(and further assume the constants
will combine and get the result), but the beauty of the problem is that all the
constants and the expressions combine nicely to give a direct proportionality.