PHY301: Classical Mechanics Tutorial 2 14-08-2018

𝑑 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝜕𝑟 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝜕𝑟 ̇
1. Prove that 𝑑𝑡 (𝜕𝑞𝜈 ) = 𝜕𝑞𝜈 in generalized co-ordinates where 𝜈 varies from 1 to
𝛼 𝛼

N (N = number of particles) and 𝛼 varies from 1 to 3N.

2. Let 𝐹𝜈 be the net external force acting on the 𝜈 𝑡ℎ particle of a system. Prove
that
𝑑 𝜕𝒓 𝜕𝒓 𝜕𝒓
∑𝜈 𝑚𝜈 𝒓𝒗̇ ∙ ( 𝝂 ) − ∑𝜈 𝑚𝜈 𝒓𝒗̇ ∙ ( 𝝂 ) = ∑𝜈 𝑭𝝂 ∙ ( 𝝂 )
𝑑𝑡 𝜕𝑞 𝛼 𝜕𝑞 𝛼 𝜕𝑞 𝛼

3. Use plane polar co-ordinates to express kinetic energy of a particle of mass 𝑚

in terms of generalized velocities.