Central Force (period of revolution and period of small radial oscillations)

noramire
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
1.
A particle of mass m and angular moment L moves in a central force V=(1/2)kr^2 (k>0).
Find the period of revolution for the circular movement and the period of small radial oscillations around the stable cicular orbit.

Homework Equations




The Attempt at a Solution


Well I tried using Langrange and then applied the conditions of a circular but I get lost. Any help would really help, especially if someone could help me distinguish the expressions for the two periods. Thanks.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Hi noramire and welcome to PF. Please follow the rules of this forum and use the template when you seek help with homework. Show us in some detail what you have done so that we can help you by pointing out where you might have gone wrong.
 
Yeah sorry abour the noob mistake. I actually really didn't know where to get started, you know. But I think I got it now...Circular orbit implies radius at Potential Minimum, I think that is the key to finding the radius then using common expressions for period of rev and period of radial oscillation.

Thanks, and again sorry.
 
To solve this, I first used the units to work out that a= m* a/m, i.e. t=z/λ. This would allow you to determine the time duration within an interval section by section and then add this to the previous ones to obtain the age of the respective layer. However, this would require a constant thickness per year for each interval. However, since this is most likely not the case, my next consideration was that the age must be the integral of a 1/λ(z) function, which I cannot model.
Back
Top