Central University of Rajasthan (CURAJ)

Department of Physics

I. M. S. 2018 : PHY401 : MECHANICS

SEMESTER : August-November 2018

KPN
26 September 2018

Conservative forces
Work
A force changes the state of a system.

• You are standing still; I push you; you start moving.

• You are already moving; I push you; you start moving faster.

• You are already moving faster; I stop pushing hard; you slow down.

• Some time I can you push you around changing only your direction and not
your speed.

Thus a force can change your velocity. If you are fat, pushing becomes difficult; for,
you have huge inertia!
~ ∝ d~
In essence, force changes velocity : F v /dt; and hence it changes position
~
F ∝d ~ 2 2
r/dt .
In what follows we shall be concerned with change of position brought about by
a force and the consequences there of.
The first thing we do is to recall what Newton told us in his second law :

A mass continues to remain in its state of rest or of motion at

a constant velocity until and unless acted on by a force.

A point mass is reluctant to budge from the position where it rests1 . It resists
any attempt, by a force, to change its velocity; we have a name for describing such
a tendency : we call it inertia; more the mass, the more is the inertia2 .
Let us say the force manages to ’displace’ the point mass a little bit. Here we are
alluding to infinitesimal displacement. Remember displacement is a vector. Denote
infinitesimal displacement by symbol d~ r.
~
Consider the dot product : F · d~r . We call it work. If you want, call it infinites-
imal work. dW = F · d~~ r : Thus work is a scalar.
1
recall the buffaloes resting at the middle of the road from Bandersindri to Jaipur
2
in fact we call it inertial mass and distinguish it from gravitational mass.
Dimensional analysis
Let us do some dimensional analysis :

• work is force times distance (L);

• force is mass (M) times acceleration;

• acceleration is velocity divided by time (T);

• velocity is distance (L) divided by time (T).

• at last we find work is mass times square of length divided by square of time :
ML2 /T2 .

Unit of Work
The unit of work is kg.m2 /s2 = n.m (newton meter).
1 newton=1 kg.m2 /s2 ; The unit by which we measure force is newton.
We shall see that the unit of work (which is newton.meter) is the same as the
unit of energy3

Work : line integral

Consider a force that moves a point mass from a location A to another location B
along the curve shown in the figure below. We have also depicted

1. the force at an intermediate location C; and

2. an infinitesimal displacement (a vector) from C along the curve (in other words
along the tangent to the curve).

The work done is given by the following line integral,

Z
W = ~ · d~
F r,
Γ

where Γ denotes the curve from A to B. The integral is taken from A to B along
the curve Γ
Let me emphasize : the curve Γ starts at A and terminates at B. Work W is
given by the line integral. Hence W depends on A, B, Γ, and of course F at all
points ~
r on Γ.
If it happens that W does not depend on Γ and it depends only on A - the point where the
curve, Γ starts and the B - the point where the curve Γ terminates, then we say F ~ , defined at
all points ~r in the three dimensional space, is a conservative force field. We shall see more of
conservative force fields, very soon.

3
We are definitely familiar with potential energy mgh on the earth. It is M L2 /T 2 which is
the same as that of work; consider kinetic energy (1/2)mv2 . Dimensional analysis tells us it is
ML2 /T2 - the same as that of work.

2
 B
•
~
F

Γ •
C d~
r

•
A

Figure 1: The curve Γ. It starts at A and terminates at B. C is a point on Γ. The force at C

~ . d~
is F r is a infinitesimal displacement vector at C. It is tangential to Γ at C.

Work done by force and kinetic energy

To change the velocity from a value say ~ v1 to a value ~v2 , the force must do work.
4
Note inertia opposes such moves . The work done is manifest in the mass point as
change in kinetic energy : either it increases or it decreases. When kinetic energy
increases then F~ does work on the mass point. When kinetic energy decreases then
the point mass does the work; as a consequence of doing work, it loses its kinetic
energy5 . Let us use the symbol T to denote kinetic energy.
~
rB ~
rB t2
d~
r
Z Z Z
W = ~ · d~
F r= ~·
F dt = ~ ·~
F v dt
~
rA ~
rA dt t1

t2
d~
v
Z
= m ·~
v dt
t1 dt

~
vB
1
Z
= m d(~
v·~
v)
2 ~
vA

~
vB
1
Z
= m d(v 2 )
2 ~
vA

1 2 2
= m (vB − vA )
2

= T (B) − T (A).

Force fields
We are going to talk of force fields. What is a force field ? At every point in the three
dimensional space plant a vector; if the vector is a force, then we have a force-field6 ;
thus we have the force field denoted by the symbol F ~ (x, y, z) or F
~ (~
r ).
4
Recall : Work is done only when an object moves against an opposing force.
5
after all when we do work we lose energy and hence we have to eat !
6
the analogy is that at every point on a piece of land plant rice plant and call it rice field.

3
 We are going to inquire when do we say a force field is conservative.
Notice : force field is a vector field.

Scalar field : At every point in the three dimen-

sional space, plant a scalar. Denote the scalar field
by the symbol U (x, y, z). Example : Temperature
is a scalar. Therefore we have a temperature field
T (x, y, z) or T (~r ).
Take a point (x, y, z) in the room. Measure the den-
sity of air at that point. Denote the density by the
symbol ρ. We have the scalar field ρ(x, y, z) or ρ(~ r).
Vector field : Consider a river. At every point
(x, y, z) in the river, we can define a vector ~ v (x, y, z)
denoting the velocity of an infinitesimal mass at that
space point.
~
Electric field E(x, y, z) is another example of a vector
~
field; magnetic field, B(x, y, z) is a force field.

Conservative forces
We attach the adjective ”conservative” to a force field, see below.

A force field is conservative if

~ (x, y, z) = −∇U (x, y, z)

F

U (x, y, z) in the above, is a scalar field.

~ (x, y, z) is conservative, then the line integral for the work is independent
If F
of the path Γ.

Z B Z B Z B
W = ~ · d~
F r= ~ · d~
F r=− ∇U · d~
r
A Γ A A

We will show that

~ · d~
∇U r = dU

4
 ∂U ∂U ∂U
   
~ · d~
∇U r = î + ĵ + k̂ · dx î + dy ĵ + dz k̂
∂x ∂y ∂z

∂U ∂U ∂U
= dx + dy + dz
∂x ∂y ∂z
We write
∂U ∂U ∂U
dU = dx + dy + dz,
∂x ∂y ∂z
and refer to dU as the total derivative, to tell it from the partial derivatives ∂U/∂x,
∂U/∂y and ∂U/∂z. Consider U (x + ∆x, y + ∆y, z + ∆z). Let us carry out
Taylor expansion and retain terms up to first ordr derivatives. We have
∂U ∂U ∂U
U (x + ∆x, y + ∆y, z + ∆z) = U (z, y, z) + ∆x + ∆y + ∆z
∂x ∂y ∂z
We have,

∆U = U (x + ∆x, y + ∆y, z + ∆z) − U (z, y, z)

∂U ∂U ∂U
≈ ∆x + ∆y + ∆z
∂x ∂y ∂z

We shall employ the symbol ∆(·) to denote a small quantity of (·). However we
shall call d(·) as infinitesimal or calculus infinitesimal of (·). Limiting behaviour
obtains when ∆x → 0, ∆y → 0, and ∆ → 0. We have

lim U (x + ∆x, y, z) − U (x, y, z) ∂U

∆x→0 =
∆x ∂x

lim U (x, y + ∆y, z) − U (x, y, z) ∂U

∆y→0 =
∆y ∂y

lim U (x, y, z + ∆z) − U (x, y, z) ∂U

∆z→0 =
∆z ∂z
The limiting behaviour implies,
∂U ∂U ∂U
dU = dx + dy + dz
∂x ∂y ∂z
dU is called the total differential or total derivative.
Thus we have an important result :
~ · d~
∇U r = dU

5
 Let us get back to the work integral. We can write
Z ~rB Z ~rB
W =− ~
∇U · d~r=− dU = U (~
rA ) − U (r~B )
~
rA rA
~

W is therefore independent of the path taken from A to go to B. Path inde-

~ · d~
pendence implies that the integral of F r taken over a closed loop is zero.
Z
F~ · d~
r=0

We have already derived an expression for W in terms of kinetic energy at A

and at B. Let us put both the results in a single place.


Z B  T (B) − T (A)
W = ~ · d~
F r=
A 
U (A) − U (B)

The scalar field is given the name : potential energy.

Thus a force field F ~ (~ ~ (~
r) is conservative if F ~ (~
r ) = −∇U r)
When a mass point moves from a point of higher potential to a point of lower
potential it loses potential energy and gains kinetic energy.
When it moves from a point of lower potential energy to a point of higher po-
tential energy it gains in potential energy but loses kinetic energy.
We find

U (A) − U (B) = T (B) − T (A)

U (A) + T (A) = U (B) + T (B)

The sum of potential and kinetic energy seems to remain constant when a mass
point moves around because of conservative force fields.
~ (~
The following are equivalent statements about a force field F r).

~ is conservative.
• F

• There exists a scalar field U (~ ~ = −∇U .

r ) such that F
R ~r
• The line integral ~rAB :Γ F~ · d~
r is independent of the path Γ taken from
~
rA to ~
rB . The line integral depends only on ~ rA and ~rB .
I
• F~ · d~
r = 0 over any closed path Γ.
Γ

~ =0
• ∇×F

6
Curl Operator
~ × (~·) is called curl operator. Note (~·) is a vector. If F
∇ ~ = −∇U
~ then
~ ~ ~
∇ × F = −∇ × ∇U . ~

Home Work : Prove that ∇ × ∇U = 0 for all U : the curl of a gradient is zero
always. Prove this statement explicitly.
~ is conservative then F
If F ~ = −∇U~ . Since the curl of a gradient is always zero
always, the statement ∇~ ×F ~ = 0 implies F
~ is conservative.