Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 3 18D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Euler equations for an inviscid fluid with no body force is . For irrotational flow , the identity removes the last term. Thus the gradient of is zero, giving the Unsteady Bernoulli equationThe function is spatially constant on the connected fluid region; adding a time-dependent constant to the potential changes its gauge.
For spherically symmetric incompressible radial flow, is independent of . The bubble boundary moves with the fluid, so , giving . Fix at infinity, obtaining and . The time derivative is taken at fixed , then evaluated at the moving boundary: . With pressure continuity at the interface and no capillary or viscous correction, Bernoulli gives the Rayleigh equation for an inviscid spherical bubble
The gas law and initial pressure fix . Multiply the radius equation by ; its left side is . Integrating from the zero-speed initial state gives the first integral of polytropic spherical-bubble motionTo find the permitted radii, put . The bracket becomes , nonnegative exactly for . ThereforeInitially , so the radius decreases from the upper endpoint. At the lower endpoint the gas pressure is , giving positive acceleration and an outward reversal. The first-integral zeros are simple, so the travel-time integrals near either endpoint behave as an integrable inverse square root. The bubble reaches both turning radii in finite time, and the autonomous undamped equation repeats this motion periodically. Thus the stated interval describes oscillation, rather than an irreversible approach to one endpoint.