Thank you so much. I can't believe I missed that, I can console myself with the fact that so has everyone else I have spoken to. So I used \dot{r}=0 and ended up with
\frac{r^{2}}{a}=\frac{J\pm\sqrt{J^{2}-2gp^{2}/a}}{2mg}
I'm guessing \frac{r^{2}}{a}=h
Is this because in the original r the...
Homework Statement
A particle of mass m moves on the surface of a paraboloidal bowl with position given by r=rcosθi+rsinθj+\frac{r^{2}}{a}k
with a>0 constant. The particle is subject to a gravitational force F=-mgk but no other external forces.
Show that a suitable Lagrangian for the system is...