Generalized coordinates in Lagrangian mechanics

Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
2 replies · 2K views
Messages
2,802
Reaction score
605
In some texts about Lagrangian mechanics,its written that the generalized coordinates need not be length and angles(as is usual in coordinate systems)but they also can be quantities with other dimensions,say,energy,[itex]length^2[/itex] or even dimensionless.
I want to know how will be the Lagrange's equations in such coordinates?
Could you give an example whose proper coordinates are as such?
Thanks
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Lagranges equations are unchanged regardless of the units of the coordinates. You can take any problem with lengths and angles and simply do an arbitrary change of variables to get a coordinate in any units you like. E.g. Take any length and divide by the speed of light and you have a new coordinate with units of time.
 
tbf, angles are dimensionless so there's no issue there.