USING THE LAGRANGE EQUATIONS

The Lagrange equations give us the simplest method of getting the correct equations of motion for systems where the natural coordinate system is not Cartesian and/or where there are constraints which reduce the number of degrees of freedom. Here are some simple examples of how we use the equations in practice. Often we do not need to solve the equations of motion explicitly in order to understand the nature of the motion. By clever use of the conserved quantities (symmetries) we can sidestep the tedious business of integrating dierential equations numerically. PLANETARY MOTION Consider the simplest model of planetary motion in which we regard the Sun as xed with mass M and the planet with mass m free to move under the Suns gravitational attraction. Since the planet can move in any direction in three-dimensional space, it has three degrees of freedom. The next choice is the selection of a good set of generalised coordinates. Since the force on the planet depends only on its distance r from the Sun, it is pretty clear that spherical polar coordinates r, , provide a much better set of coordinates than do the Cartesian coordinates x, y , z . From the reference sheet on coordinate systems we have that the kinetic energy takes the form
T = m 2 1 2 2 + r2 sin2 2 = mr r + r2 2 2 GM m r .

The potential energy is

Thus the Lagrangian is

There will be three Lagrange equations, one corresponding to each of the three degrees of freedom.
r

eqn.
d dt L r d dt L 2 mr sin2 2 + GM m = 0 = mr mr r r2 L d ) mr2 sin cos 2 = 0 = (mr2 dt L d ) = d p = 0 = (mr2 sin2 dt dt . (1)

eqn.
L d dt . (2)

eqn.
L , (3)

where the last equation tells us that the generalised momentum p is conserved, reecting the fact that is a cyclic or ignorable coordinate (rotational symmetry). You should become accustomed to carrying out the steps above for any problem. At this point however, we must start to think instead of simply turning the handle of

deriving Lagrange equations. If necessary, we can now solve the Lagrange equations numerically by resorting to computers. However, rarely do we need to know such detailed information. More often it is sucient that we can determine qualitative features of the motion such as whether or not it is bounded. For qualitative purposes we should instead make full use of the conserved quantities in the problem. In particular, if there are conserved momenta, we can use them to eliminate variables from the energy equation thus reducing the complexity of the problem. In the present case , and the we have two conserved quantities, namely the momentum p = mr2 sin2 + p L = T + V . From p we solve for , energy E = pr r + p
= mr2 p sin2 , (4)

where p is constant, and substitute in the energy equation

to get
E= p m 2 m 2 GM m 2 + 2 + Vef f (r, ) r + r2 = r + r2 2 2 2 r 2 2mr sin
2

Here I have observed that the last piece of the kinetic energy now looks exactly like a potential energy since it is a function only of r and and does not depend on any velocities. Therefore I have included it with the true potential energy to dene an eective potential
Vef f (r, ) = p2 2mr2 sin2 GM m r .

Already we can learn something. So long as there is a non-zero angular momentum value p , the rst term in the eective potential blows up to positive innity as r 0. However, since the energy E is constant, at some point we would violate the energy equation. Thus the motion of the particle is such that there is a least distance rmin it can reach from the Sun, provided only that it has some non-zero angular momentum. We can say even more if we look at the Lagrange equation (2) for . There are obvious special solutions for = constant where the constant values are = 0, or = /2. The rst two of these correspond to zero angular momentum p and to the planet falling straight into the sun along the polar axis. The third value, = /2 corresponds to motion in a plane at right angles to the polar direction. For this = 0 the equations above simplify even more to become constant value of = /2,
E= p2 m 2 GM m m 2 r + = r + Vef f (r) 2 2mr2 r 2 .

Now the problem is reduced to one concerning a single variable r. If we plot the eective potential as a function of r, we see that it starts from + at r = 0, falls rapidly and becomes negative and then slowly vanishes as r . To satisfy the energy conservation equation the value of Vef f (r) at point r must always be less than min or equal to E . Thus for a negative energy E1 such that 0 > E1 > Vef f , the physically allowed region is nite, bounded by a least rmin and a greatest rmax . While for a

positive energy E2 0, the motion has a least distance rmin but it is unbounded at innite distance allowing the planet to escape to innite distance. The precise values of rmin and rmax depend on the values of the conserved quantities E and p which in turn are determined by the initial values of position and velocity for the planet.
V
eff

( r )

r min E2 > 0 r 0 > E1 r

V eff

max

THE SPHERICAL PENDULUM As a second example, we consider the spherical pendulum which consists of a point mass m connected to a pivot point by a light massless rigid rod of length a. We then set it in motion by striking it at random so that in the subsequent motion it moves arbitrarily provided that its distance from the pivot point remains constant. In eect the mass moves on the surface of a sphere which is two-dimensional so there are two degrees of freedom. The best coordinate system to describe this moving mass is a spherical polar coordinate system r, , with an origin at the pivot point so that the constraint of constant distance becomes simply r = a = constant and , are the two generalised coordinates describing the two independent degrees of freedom. Since r is constrained to be constant, r = 0, it drops out of the problem completely and the Lagrangian becomes
L=T V = m 2 2 1 2 2 mga cos . = mr a + a2 sin2 2 2 Lagrange equations, one for and one for .

Now there are only two

eqn.
d dt L L d ) mr2 sin cos 2 mga sin = 0 = (mr2 dt .

eqn.
d dt L L d ) = d p = 0 = (mr2 sin2 dt dt .

Thus there is again a conserved generalised momentum p and again there is a + p L = T + V . Just as in the earlier example we can conserved energy E = p in favour of p as in equation (4) . If we substitute in simplify by eliminating the energy equation
E= m 2 2 2 + mga cos a + a2 sin2 2 ,

we get
E= p2 m 2 2 m 2 a + + mga cos = a2 + Vef f () 2 2 2 2 2ma sin .

In this case, the eective potential is a function of only so it looks like a one dimensional problem again with a single variable to think about. If we now plot
Vef f () = p2 2ma2 sin2 + mga cos ,

as a function of between = 0 and = we see that the rst term blows up to + near both endpoints = 0, while the second term is a simple nite cosine curve. At xed energy E we again nd the physically allowed region as those values of such that E Vef f (). Thus we can prove the motion is bounded without solving the Lagrange equations explicitly. The magnitude of the bounds max and min depends on the initial conditions at time t = 0 which will x the values of the conserved quantities E and p .
V
eff

(! )

E !
min

max

"