Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 3B iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The work done by a force is . By the work-energy theorem, this has the same physical dimension as energy. ThusAlthough torque and energy have the same physical dimension, they represent different physical quantities.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 3B ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The torque about an origin is . A cross product multiplies the dimensions of its factors, so torque has the physical dimension of length times force:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 3B vii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use Coulomb's law in vacuum, . The constant is dimensionless, so the vacuum-permittivity dimension isThus the physical dimension of vacuum permittivity follows directly from the dimensions of electric charge, force, and separation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 3B v Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
An electric field is defined through the electric force on a stationary electric charge: . Therefore the electric-field dimension is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 4 9B a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Work in one fixed inertial frame, and take positive velocity in the rocket's direction. During , the rocket ejects the positive amount of mass . Its exhaust has inertial velocity , by the Galilean transformation of velocities. Once expelled, that material retains its velocity because it experiences no external force. The system's momentum is therefore the rocket momentum plus the sum of all these exhaust momenta:The minus sign comes from the positive expelled mass being .
Differentiate, applying the product rule to the rocket momentum and the fundamental theorem of calculus to the integral:The momentum conservation law thus gives the nonrelativistic rocket equation
The same bookkeeping for kinetic energy givesIts derivative iswhere the rocket equation cancels the first two terms. Thus kinetic energy increases during mass ejection, with when and . This does not violate conservation of energy: the increase comes from stored internal energy.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 16D e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The force on the real line charge is due to the induced conductor field, represented by the image charge; its own singular field must be omitted. The opposite image at distance produces at the origin a field toward the conductor,Multiplying by the charge per unit length gives the attractive force per unit length:The attraction holds for either sign of . The geometry assumes , so the real line lies outside the conductor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 308 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the Minkowski metric with signature , and write . The Euler-Lagrange equation isFor the static phi-four kink, and , so the field equation is satisfied. The centre is arbitrary by translation invariance, and the hyperbolic tangent profile increases monotonically from to , crossing zero at . The static kink and its endpoint topological charge are
The phi-four kink rises between the two vacuum values and crosses zero at its centre
. Details. Both endpoint values are isolated classical vacua, since only at . A continuous finite-energy deformation preserving the vacuum boundary conditions cannot change either endpoint to the other isolated classical vacuum. The topological charge is therefore unchanged: this kink cannot deform into a homogeneous classical vacuum, whose charge is zero. There is also a direct Bogomolny bound in this sector. The square completion for a one-dimensional kink givesThe phi-four kink saturates the bound, so its mass is in these units and it minimizes the energy within its topological sector. Its arbitrary position is a collective coordinate, not an instability. A kink and an antikink together have total charge zero and can annihilate without contradicting the protection of an isolated kink.
For the momentum, the canonical stress-energy tensor of this scalar field isConsequently the physical spatial momentum density and the spatial momentum flux areThe sign of makes a right-moving translated kink carry positive momentum. Direct use of the field equation, rather than an assumed static field, yields the scalar-field momentum flux identityThe finite-energy field configuration has by . Integrating the stress-energy conservation law over the left half-line gives the boundary forceUnder the usual vacuum falloff, the stress at the left endpoint is zero. More generally, smooth spatial cutoffs with derivative of order remove the left endpoint using the integrable energy density, so no pointwise limit of every derivative at infinity is needed. The identity expresses the force on the field to the left of : positive force transfers momentum to the right. For well separated solitons, a cut between them measures the interaction force on the left soliton.
Take that cut at . The specified symmetric pair has, at the initial time,The printed field profile does not itself specify the initial velocity. If , the exact initial half-line force isFor the intended initially resting pair, or more generally , put and use . The at-rest force for a symmetric phi-four pair isThe leading force is attractive, towards the antikink:The antikink feels the opposite force by the symmetry of the resting pair. This is an initial, large-separation interaction calculation, not a claim that the superposed profile is an exact static two-soliton solution. Without the initial-velocity condition, the additional momentum flux above prevents a unique force from being inferred from the printed profile alone.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 10A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A central force has no component in the angular direction. The angular component of the acceleration in polar coordinates therefore gives , orFor unit mass, is the signed angular momentum perpendicular to the orbital plane, so its magnitude is conserved. Equivalently, the torque vanishes, which also fixes that plane.
The given potential energy is , whose radial force is : positive is repulsive and negative attractive. The kinetic energy in polar coordinates is , so conservation of energy givesFor and , the effective potential is positive, strictly decreasing from to , and has no stationary point. For , it still tends to at zero, crosses zero at , and has its unique minimum atIt then approaches zero from below. The minimum corresponds to a stable circular orbit. If , the centrifugal barrier disappears; the attractive effective potential is simply and has no minimum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 11A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The rotating-frame derivative formula is . Applying it twice to the position vector, with constant angular velocity, givesSolving for identifies the displayed terms: its left side is the acceleration relative to the rotating reference frame, the first right-hand term is the inertial acceleration, is the Coriolis acceleration, and is the outward centrifugal acceleration.
For a particle of mass , replace by the actual force divided by using Newton's second law. The remaining terms then appear as apparent forces in . There is no Euler acceleration because is constant and no translational acceleration term because the common origin is fixed in the inertial frame.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 11A b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Because the contact is frictionless, the horizontal normal force is , with a signed outward component. Any vertical contact component balances Newtonian gravity and does not enter the horizontal equations. With , the rotating reference frame equation givesSince , , and , its normal and tangential components areHence the requested horizontal force vector isIts magnitude is the absolute value of the scalar coefficient. That coefficient need not always be negative: the constraint can exert either sign of normal force, depending on the bead's relative velocity. The tangential equation, which does not contain the reaction, is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 3A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Assume the particle masses are fixed and their total mass is positive. The centre of mass and the relative position vectors areTheir weighted sum is zero, so differentiation gives . Expanding the kinetic energy with makes the mixed term vanish:This kinetic-energy decomposition about the centre of mass separates translation from internal motion without assuming any particular force law.
For the rigid body, its relative velocity is . The cross product identity for a unit vector gives , the squared perpendicular distance to the rotation axis. Hence the moment of inertia of the particle is , and summing the rotational kinetic energy yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 316 2 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , and . A tightly bound circumplanetary orbit lies well inside the Hill sphere, so and its orbital period is short compared with the planet's year. Treat the stellar flux and stellar direction as constant during one dust orbit. With stellar-frame velocity , the velocity-dependent acceleration isThe terms independent of , including the leading static radiation pressure, do no net work on an unperturbed closed circular orbit. HenceFor a coplanar circular orbit, and the component along the stellar direction has mean square . Thus yields the Poynting–Robertson decay of a circumplanetary orbitThe coefficient three assumes coplanarity, which the PDF does not state. For orbital normal , the general circular covariance is , givingAn orbital plane normal to the stellar radial direction has coefficient two during that orbit, a counterexample to an orientation-independent coefficient three. Averaging also over the planet's circular stellar orbit, with fixed dust-plane orbital inclination to it, gives coefficient . The conservative forces must be weak enough for the assumed approximately circular, planet-bound orbit to persist; the small planet-to-star mass ratio alone does not ensure this for arbitrary grain .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 320 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The stellar relaxation time is the time on which accumulated discrete gravitational encounters change a typical star's velocity by an amount comparable to its original velocity. It concerns two-body relaxation, rather than the much faster orbital evolution in a smooth gravitational potential. A collisionless stellar system requires this time to greatly exceed the duration being studied.
In the straight-line impulse approximation, an encounter at relative speed has transverse acceleration . ThusA small-angle gravitational encounter needs . The transition to order-one deflections is therefore , ignoring factors such as the equal-mass relative deflection. For the spherical estimate ,This is the lower cutoff of the weak-scattering estimate; closer encounters actually occur and require strong-scattering treatment.
The number of encounters in time with impact parameters in is . Independent random transverse directions make mean kicks cancel while their variances add. ConsequentlyEach logarithmic interval contributes equally, giving the Coulomb logarithm in stellar dynamics. Defining a deflection time by variance and setting gives . The paper instead uses an order-one normalization three quarters of this estimate:Both have the same physical scaling. The specified characteristic speed, the word “comparable”, the velocity-distribution average and strong-encounter cutoff do not fix that numerical coefficient uniquely. The crude equal-speed impulse calculation must not be claimed to determine exactly.
For a self-gravitating, approximately virialized system, the virial theorem gives . With , and the stellar crossing time , substitution into the paper's convention givesAn externally dominated gravitational potential or a different structural constant changes this substitution. For an N-body simulation lasting , a tolerable fractional velocity-squared diffusion requires , henceThere is no unique smallest without , the error tolerance and the force prescription. For scale, equality at occurs near ; gives about crossing times. A calculation lasting 100 crossing times therefore needs substantially more than the first threshold to have negligible relaxation. Gravitational softening can raise the effective cutoff and reduce artificial scattering, but it also sets the spatial force resolution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 320 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
On a length scale , pressure communicates support over a sound-crossing time , whereas self-gravity acts over a time of order . When the former is longer, gravity can amplify an overdensity before pressure smooths it. Thus Jeans instability occurs at scales of order ; the precise numerical factor depends on whether scale means wavelength or inverse wavenumber.
Take a uniform static background, small perturbations, an inviscid barotropic fluid, and with . An infinite Newtonian homogeneous density cannot itself have zero background gravitational acceleration while satisfying the unmodified Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity. Specify the Jeans swindle: subtract the homogeneous field, or regard an external prescription as balancing it, and apply Poisson's equation only to perturbations. The linearized continuity equation and Euler equations for an inviscid fluid areTaking a time derivative of the first equation and substituting the second yields . A plane wave therefore givesFor there is exponential growth at rate . At the density mode is neutral to this linear order, and above it there are acoustic oscillations. The critical wavelength is . Transverse velocity perturbations decouple as zero-frequency vortical modes in this idealization.
For the attractive Yukawa potential, assume a real screening parameter . Its Green function obeys , including the delta source. Thus . The same fluid elimination gives Jeans instability with Yukawa gravity:There exists a growing nonzero-wavenumber mode precisely whenEquality gives no exponentially growing nonzero mode. If screening exceeds this threshold, the finite-range gravitational response is too weak to overcome pressure at any wavelength. Otherwise all sufficiently long but nonconstant waves remain unstable, with a longer minimum unstable wavelength than in Newtonian gravity. For the long-wave gravitational contribution also scales as , so the growth rate tends to zero as ; screening does not produce a second positive lower cutoff in wavenumber. A homogeneous screened background can have the constant gravitational potential , with zero force, so no Newtonian background subtraction is needed for nonzero screening. The limits and are nonuniform. An exact density change is not one of the growing finite-wavelength modes. In the pressureless edge case , every finite is unstable for positive density and finite screening.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Linearity of Stokes flow and rotational symmetry, including reflection in mathematics invariance of the spherical geometry, determine the possible rigid motions before any calculation. Translation is a polar vector; its linear dependence on a single vector must be . A traceless second-rank tensor cannot produce a polar vector by an isotropic linear map: tensor contraction with the identity matrix vanishes and tensor contraction with the totally antisymmetric tensor vanishes because is a symmetric second-rank tensor. Angular velocity is an axial vector. Neither nor a symmetric can produce one by an isotropic linear map. Products such as are excluded by Linearity of Stokes flow. Thus .
Use the Unscaled Papkovich–Neuber representation, with harmonic functions and :Indeed and because each potential is a harmonic function. Put and . The decaying harmonic functions with the necessary angular dependence are , and . The last is a harmonic function precisely because . A Stokeslet is excluded by the force-free condition, and a rotlet by the torque-free condition. TryThe resulting Stokes flow isAt , the coefficient of fixes ; the remaining constant vector gives . In the mode, matching gives and . Therefore the complete two-mode tensorial squirmer flow isThe boundary condition is satisfied in the laboratory frame, so the Stokes flow tends to zero at infinity. The potential dipole in the mode gives an irrotational flow and decays as ; the leading mode is a stresslet, decaying as . Neither carries a net force or torque. Direct surface integral averaging with the surface slip velocity formula gives the same translation, providing an independent check. Uniqueness of Stokes flow then identifies this decaying solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let , , and . Applied forces and couples below are forces and torques on the solid; by force balance their values are also the strengths exerted by that solid on the fluid. This fixes the signs in Faxén's first law and Faxén's rotational law. To hold the passive sphere fixed, set its translation and angular velocity to zero in those laws. The incident two-mode tensorial squirmer flow givesOnly the stresslet part has vorticity:Consequently, for fixed as ,The leading force is the radial stresslet force. Its next correction, , comes from the incident potential dipole. The next correction, , contains both the swimmer's field and the Laplacian term in Faxén's first law. If the relevant coefficient vanishes, these next terms must be retained instead of calling the vanished term a nonzero leading approximation. Further exchanges in the method of reflections for Stokes flow are smaller still.
The passive sphere reflects primarily a Stokeslet with strength . At the swimmer, its velocity is . The unchanged surface slip velocity adds the free swimming velocity to the incident-flow contribution in Faxén's first law. ThusThe leading change is ; its next correction is the displayed term. Finite-radius Faxén's first law corrections, the passive sphere's reflected stresslet, and its rotlet contribute at order to translation.
For a Stokeslet at the origin,The curl of the first term is ; that of the second is also , before multiplying by . Hence . At the swimmer use displacement . The leading force is parallel to , so its Stokeslet has zero vorticity there. This eliminates the putative rotation. The potential dipole itself has no vorticity, but the holding force it induces is not radial. Applying Faxén's rotational law to its reflected Stokeslet yieldsThe passive sphere's rotlet and reflected stresslet can affect that last order, so they cannot restore the larger missing rotation. When , the boxed coefficient is zero and the higher-order terms determine any rotation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take positive downwards. The leading axial velocity of a slender viscous thread is independent of radius. Incompressible flow then gives , while steady mass conservation gives . The Newtonian fluid stress tensor has and . The Young–Laplace equation, neglecting axial curvature at slender order, gives and hence .
The axial cut transmits both the integrated Newtonian fluid stress tensor and the circumferential surface tension. After subtracting the ambient pressure, its tensile force isThe coefficient three is the Trouton ratio for axial extension. The last term is essential: the capillary tensile force of a slender thread is , not , because the capillary pressure subtracts half the interfacial line contribution. Axial force balance is . Together the governing equations areDefine the dimensionless variablesThen and the axial equation becomesFor the increasing power-law branch, all three terms have the same dependence when . Substitution leaves . ThusThis remains valid at , when . The other root is negative and describes a decreasing local branch up to its singular endpoint, not a thread accelerating downwards indefinitely. Positive surface tension decreases , so it slows the fall at a given height on this branch. Thinning reduces the capillary tensile force . Its negative axial derivative supplies an upward capillary force on a thread segment, balancing part of the weight. The viscous tensile force therefore supplies a smaller remaining balance; on the quadratic family this reduces the stretching rate.
The condition alone does not select a unique solution of this second-order ordinary differential equation. The boxed power law is the requested verified branch, with tensile force tending to zero at large height; an additional nozzle tension or downstream condition is required to select it physically. The slender, negligible-inertia approximation must remain valid over the height range considered.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use , , , and . Locally replace in the preceding annular viscous extension calculation by . Its leading pressure isThe axial liquid stress relative to ambient pressure, together with the two circumferential surface tension forces, transmits a cut forceIt would be incorrect simply to differentiate this and retain an extra gas-pressure term. The sloping inner gas interface also exerts an axial pressure force per unit height, after subtracting the common ambient pressure contribution. For constant gas pressures these terms cancel. The resulting capillary tensile force of a hollow slender thread therefore givesThus the printed axial equation holds even for unequal constant gas pressures; their influence remains in the radial evolution.
For equal pressures, the kinematic boundary condition from the previous calculation becomes . Multiplying by the appropriate integrating factor givesAt closure , so and . HenceThe right side is positive for a genuine annulus. On the gravity-driven quadratic family from the previous part, grows linearly with height and this integral diverges logarithmically. It must then reach the finite positive threshold at a finite height. This explains the expected capillary closure of a falling hollow thread on that freely falling branch without requiring its full coupled profile.
There is a real boundary-data limitation to that expectation. Neither the printed nozzle speed nor the local equations alone guarantee finite closure for every imposed nozzle tension. To see this within the same leading model, define , so . For equal pressures and , both radii decrease and . Ifthen a bootstrap gives and : the maximum accumulated weight is smaller than the assumed tension margin. Consequently the closure integral, including its prefactor, is at most . If this is smaller than , closure never occurs at finite height. For example, in consistent units choose , , , , . Then , the weight bound is , and . Small makes the initial geometry slender. Thus finite closure is the expected freely falling branch behaviour, not a theorem following from nozzle speed alone. If there is no capillary closure by this mechanism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
First supply the introductory scaling and geometry. The leading tangential Stokes equation in a thin gap balances against . The shear stress scale is , so lubrication pressure dominates shear stress:The outer circle, viewed along a ray from the inner centre, satisfies . Expanding its positive root to first order in gives , hence .
Take positive to mean increasing , and put , , . With no-slip boundary conditions at , lubrication theory givesSteady mass conservation makes independent of . Single-valued pressure requires . Write and . It follows thatThe tangential fluid tractions on the inner and outer solids, measured in the same increasing- direction, are respectivelyThis sign convention distinguishes the traction on a wall from the corresponding stress component in the fluid.
To leading order the holding force balances the pressure traction on the inner circle. Integration by parts givesUse and , with the continuous limit at . Substituting the boxed flux yieldsThe zero vertical component also follows from reflection in mathematics in the vertical line: this leaves the geometry and vertical force unchanged, reverses , and Linearity of Stokes flow then requires .
Pressure gives no moment about either circular wall's own centre. Integrating the viscous shear torque with lever arm to leading order gives the fluid couplesIndeed and at this order. Applied holding or driving couples are the negatives of these fluid couples. They need not cancel because they are moments about different axes. The fluid force on the outer solid equals the holding force on the inner one. Transferring its moment to the inner axis adds , so angular momentum balance about a common axis isFor the usual equal and opposite concentric couples are recovered. All these formulas are leading thin-gap expressions at fixed ; taking the contact limit requires maintaining the local slender-gap assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 329 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
This is a squeezing motion, not the rotational motion of the previous part. The gap changes at rate . The Reynolds lubrication equation therefore givesThe outer wall also has tangential speed , but its local Couette flow flux is compared with the squeezing flux and does not affect the leading force. Thus at leading order. Periodic pressure gives , because the integral of vanishes over a full circle. Balancing pressure traction on the fixed inner cylinder and using integration by parts,The supplied integral gives the squeeze resistance of an eccentric journal bearing:The fluid tends to pull the inner cylinder upwards with the moving outer wall, so a downward holding force is required when . At concentricity the translation resistance is . The omitted wall-tangential flux and shear traction give smaller thin-gap contributions.

