- #1
jdstokes
- 523
- 1
Hi,
I'm in the process of self-teaching myself Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics. In my readings, I've found that some velocity dependent forces (e.g. the Lorentz force) can be derived from a classical Lagrangian whereas others such as friction cannot.
Do there exist necessary and sufficient conditions to decide when velocity dependent forces are obtainable from a Lagrangian, in the same way that velocity independent forces can be obtained from a lagrangian iff they are the gradient of a potential function?
James
I'm in the process of self-teaching myself Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics. In my readings, I've found that some velocity dependent forces (e.g. the Lorentz force) can be derived from a classical Lagrangian whereas others such as friction cannot.
Do there exist necessary and sufficient conditions to decide when velocity dependent forces are obtainable from a Lagrangian, in the same way that velocity independent forces can be obtained from a lagrangian iff they are the gradient of a potential function?
James