Help Finding path of a particle with an intial position and initial velocity

ezedvin1
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone,

I am having trouble finding the answer to a homework problem. I don't seem to understand what the question is exactly asking for. The problem is:

find the path of a particle with an initial position 10er + 1.0eϴ and an initial velocity 0.1er + 0.8eϴ
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Have you considered using the kinematics for cylindrical coordinates?
 
the equations I am thinking about using are

Cylindrical coordinates: r, ∅, z
x=rcos∅ y=rsin∅

Spherical Coordinates: r, θ, ∅
x=rsinθcos∅ y=rsinθsin∅ z=rcosθ

I also know an equation for velocity as v=\dot{r}er + r\dot{θ}eθ

I'm still very confused as to what to do with all these equations to find the path of the particle. Please Help.
 
Last edited:
Those equations look like they are for converting from Cartesian coordinates to cylindrical / spherical coordinates.

Try looking around in your book for the kinematic equations in cylindrical / spherical form. If they aren't in your book you could try going to this link

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equations_of_motion

and try looking for them by Crtl+F and typing in what you're looking for.

I haven't ever worked with those coordinate systems and kinematic equations before, otherwise I would be more helpful.
 
Hello everyone, I’m considering a point charge q that oscillates harmonically about the origin along the z-axis, e.g. $$z_{q}(t)= A\sin(wt)$$ In a strongly simplified / quasi-instantaneous approximation I ignore retardation and take the electric field at the position ##r=(x,y,z)## simply to be the “Coulomb field at the charge’s instantaneous position”: $$E(r,t)=\frac{q}{4\pi\varepsilon_{0}}\frac{r-r_{q}(t)}{||r-r_{q}(t)||^{3}}$$ with $$r_{q}(t)=(0,0,z_{q}(t))$$ (I’m aware this isn’t...
Hi, I had an exam and I completely messed up a problem. Especially one part which was necessary for the rest of the problem. Basically, I have a wormhole metric: $$(ds)^2 = -(dt)^2 + (dr)^2 + (r^2 + b^2)( (d\theta)^2 + sin^2 \theta (d\phi)^2 )$$ Where ##b=1## with an orbit only in the equatorial plane. We also know from the question that the orbit must satisfy this relationship: $$\varepsilon = \frac{1}{2} (\frac{dr}{d\tau})^2 + V_{eff}(r)$$ Ultimately, I was tasked to find the initial...
Back
Top