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Demon117
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Homework Statement
The situation is indicated in the diagram below. Block m is at rest, and the block M has an initial velocity upward. Need to find the Lagrangian of this system, and then the Euler-Lagrange equations.
The Attempt at a Solution
This is the Lagrange that I came up with from the beginning, but it seems like I am oversimplifying it:
[itex]T=(1/2)m(\dot{x_{1}}^{2}+\dot{y_{1}}^{2})+(1/2)M(\dot{x_{2}}^{2}+\dot{y_{2}}^{2})[/itex]
[itex]V= mgy_{1}cos(\beta) + Mgy_{2}cos(\alpha)[/itex]
[itex]L=(1/2)m(\dot{x_{1}}^{2}+\dot{y_{1}}^{2})+(1/2)M(\dot{x_{2}}^{2}+\dot{y_{2}}^{2}) - mgy_{1}cos(\beta) - Mgy_{2}cos(\alpha)[/itex]
Like I said, this seems over simplified and I feel like there should be some cross terms in the kinetic energies. The second attempt that I have made is try to come up with velocity vectors. In this case I have the velocity of the wedge with respect to the incline [itex]v_{w}=\left(\partial _tx_2\right)\hat{i}-\left(\partial _ty_2\right)\hat{j}[/itex] and the velocity of the box with respect to the wedge, with respect to the incline [itex]v_{B}=\left(\partial _tx_2\right)\hat{i}-\left(\partial _ty_2\right)\hat{j}+\left(\partial _tx_1\right)\hat{i}'-\left(\partial _ty_1\right)\hat{j}'[/itex].
Geometry has always been an extreme weakness of mine. It seems like I am approaching this in all of the wrong ways. Any suggestions would be helpful.
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