During , the remaining rocket has mass and velocity , while the expelled positive mass has velocity to first order. Subtract the initial momentum from their final momentum to obtain . Equating this to the external impulse gives the rocket equationWith and , this reduces to . Therefore, for initial velocity and ,For a launch from rest,The inequality makes the initial upward acceleration positive. Equality gives no upward launch from rest. In the zero-drag limit, . These expressions apply while the prescribed burn law and constant- approximation remain valid.
The escaping sand initially has the bucket's velocity, so it produces no relative-velocity thrust. This distinction is essential in a leaking Atwood machine. With upward velocity for the leaky side, the two bucket equations areTheir sum gives . Since , it follows thatIntegrate from , where the velocity is zero:At emptying, , givingThis is upward and positive for . For no initial sand, , the emptying time is zero and the speed is zero. As the dry bucket mass tends to zero,This finite limit refers to the idealized model; the endpoint itself would describe a massless empty bucket. For small , , consistent with initially zero acceleration that grows as mass is lost.
The massless inextensible string has hanging length , measured downward from the table. Thus . In polar coordinates, the tabletop mass has squared speed . Adding the two kinetic energies and setting the hanging gravitational potential energy to givesand the Lagrangian isThe canonical momenta are and . Performing the Legendre transform gives the HamiltonianIt equals the total mechanical energy and is conserved because has no explicit time dependence. Also is a cyclic coordinate, so is conserved angular momentum about the vertical through the hole. The table and the string guide supply external forces; conservation of the system's total linear momentum does not follow. These are the two independent generic integrals needed for the reduced tabletop mass coupled to a hanging mass.
The initial angular momentum is , and the initial total energy isWhen the hanging mass reaches the table, . Conservation of angular momentum fixes the tabletop tangential speed there to . At the limiting case of just reaching, radial velocity is zero. Equating the two energies,yieldsMore generally, the boundary radial kinetic energy isso reaching requires , with equality for just reaching and strict inequality for nonzero outward radial speed at contact. This condition is also sufficient: is strictly convex, and the allowed interval connecting the initial radius to has no intervening higher effective potential barrier. At the threshold the initial radial acceleration is outward and is the outer turning point.
Effective radial potential at the threshold for the hanging mass to reach the table
. The horizontal energy level intersects the effective potential at r/l equal to one half and one. The interval between them is accessible. The curve is shifted by the irrelevant constant Mgl and normalized by Mgl; the physical region ends at r/l equal to one. Details.Initially , and , so the conserved angular momentum is . For , the effective potential contains the centrifugal barrierThe finite conserved energy therefore forbids the hole from being reached:The exceptional case has no centrifugal barrier. Then and ; starting at rest at , the tabletop mass reaches the hole after . The model ends at that event. Thus the usual nonzero initial tangential speed assumption matters.
About a fixed origin in an inertial frame, the angular momentum and torque areFor a specified fixed axis with unit vector , use the projections and . The mass is constant. Differentiating and applying Newton's second law,Hence for the fixed axis. If the net torque vanishes, the corresponding angular momentum is conserved. Fixing the origin and axis is essential to this unmodified form of the law.
Write the linear drag as , with , and let be the projectile's mass. Taking upward as positive, Newton's second law givesThe downward terminal velocity is , whereEquivalently, if the drag acceleration is specified as , then . Solving the first-order equation,The highest point occurs at , soFor an upward launch this root is positive and there, confirming a maximum height. As , expanding the logarithm gives the drag-free result . A horizontal launch has its highest point at launch; a downward launch from the ground does not have a later airborne maximum.
The retained mass at time is . Incoming rain has zero horizontal momentum in the ground reference frame. During , horizontal momentum conservation for the carriage and the rain about to enter givessoThis is a variable-mass system: the entering mass must be accelerated horizontally, even though no external horizontal force acts on the carriage-plus-rain system. Integrating the velocity,For this is also the distance travelled. Its limit is . Vertical impact can dissipate kinetic energy; horizontal momentum conservation does not require kinetic energy conservation.
Put and , the common Lorentz factor. The initial total relativistic energy and momentum areAssume that coalescence emits no additional radiation. By four-momentum conservation, the final rest mass is the rest mass of a coalescing relativistic collision:The final velocity is , the centre-of-momentum frame velocity.
For ,The leading term is the classical sum of masses. The first correction is the internal energy retained after sticking, divided by : the initial classical kinetic energy is , while the common-motion kinetic energy is . Their difference is , consistent with mass-energy equivalence.
For equal masses and an elastic collision, andThus the nonzero outgoing branch isand the other nonnegative algebraic root is . The latter is the head-on transfer of the incoming momentum and kinetic energy to particle 2: . A stationary particle has no defined outgoing direction, so this root is not a separate physical outcome for every chosen .
On the nonzero branch, momentum conservation givesThe two nonzero outgoing velocities are perpendicular: squaring momentum conservation and comparing with kinetic energy conservation gives . For , the nonzero root is negative and must be rejected; backward scattering of a moving incident particle is impossible in this equal-mass, initially stationary-target case.
Neglecting the planets' masses compared with the Sun's mass, Newton's law of universal gravitation supplies the centripetal acceleration of each circular orbit:Thus Kepler's third law, calibrated by the Earth's orbital period of one year and orbital radius of one astronomical unit, givesBoth orbits are taken to have the same direction. Their relative angular speed is , so the Sun-centred interval between successive conjunctions is the synodic periodUsing the supplied rounded orbital radii explains the small difference from the commonly quoted approximately twenty-year interval.
From the Earth, the two lines of sight are displaced differently because Jupiter and Saturn are at different distances. The Earth's annual motion along its orbit therefore shifts the dates of apparent conjunctions by amounts of order months. The broad recurrence remains about twenty years, but successive apparent conjunctions need not be equally spaced: apparent retrograde motion can produce a group of three conjunctions separated by months during one encounter. The Earth's daily rotation adds a much smaller change of viewpoint. This is a geometrical comparison in the stipulated coplanar model; daylight and the horizon can prevent a particular conjunction from being visible at a chosen surface location.
Take downward distance and downward speed , with constant gravitational acceleration and quadratic drag coefficient . The printed vector square has no standard vector meaning; the directionally consistent drag force is . For this downward fall, Newton's second law becomesThe terminal velocity is obtained by setting the net force to zero:From rest, the speed increases monotonically towards this limiting value. In fact ; thus it is a supremum approached at infinite time, and a tower of finite height need not permit it to be reached.
For the required distance, use the chain rule . Writing gives a linear ordinary differential equation:Consequently,Here has units of inverse length, so the result has the required units of distance and is independent of the falling mass.
Inertia is resistance to a change of motion. Translational inertia is measured by mass in Newton's second law; rotational inertia about a specified fixed axis is measured by the moment of inertiawhere is perpendicular distance from that axis. For a thin uniform rod, take axes perpendicular to the rod. With linear mass density ,The second result uses the parallel axis theorem; direct integration over gives the same value. The axis specification is essential: an ideal thin rod has zero moment of inertia about its own longitudinal axis.
During the short elastic collision, neglect the impulse from gravity. The pivot can exert an external impulse, so total linear momentum of rod plus particle need not be conserved. Its torque about the pivot is zero, so conservation of angular momentum about that point applies. Let be the particle's signed outgoing horizontal velocity, and the rod's outgoing angular velocity, positive towards the incident motion. ThenSubstituting into the kinetic energy equation givesDiscarding the zero-impulse branch , the actual collision givesThe rod's lower end initially moves forward at , so the bodies separate. Afterwards the free particle undergoes projectile motion. With the pivot as origin and downward, its trajectory is , , where at the collision. The rod instead swings about the fixed pivot in a vertical plane as a physical pendulum.
The rod's initial rotational kinetic energy is . Reaching the horizontal raises its centre of mass by , increasing gravitational potential energy by . Consequently,For the threshold case, measure the rod's angle from the downward vertical and reset at its first horizontal turning point, so and . The restoring torque about the pivot gives the exact equation of motionAt the horizontal, , so the rod immediately swings back. Conservation of mechanical energy yieldsOn the initial descent its explicit time dependence is specified by the definite integralIt continues through the vertical to , reverses, and repeats without damping. An alternative expression valid throughout the oscillation uses the Jacobi elliptic sine. Put , , and let denote the complete elliptic integral of the first kind. ThenThis is not simple harmonic motion at an amplitude of . Its oscillation period exceeds its own small-amplitude value by the factor .
A simple pendulum of length obeys . At the same amplitude , its oscillation period is , soThe rod swings more slowly. Its equivalent simple pendulum length is , not the distance to its centre of mass. The same oscillation period ratio holds in the common small-amplitude limit, but replacing the actual 90-degree motion by that limit would underestimate both oscillation periods.
For a satellite of mass moving in the Newtonian gravitational field of a much larger, effectively fixed mass , put . Its conserved mechanical energy, with gravitational potential energy zero at infinity, isHere is the instantaneous centre-to-centre distance, the satellite's speed, the gravitational constant, and the semi-major axis of its bound elliptic orbit. The kinetic energy and potential energy vary around the orbit, while their sum remains constant. Dividing by and solving for gives the vis-viva equation, .
For this Hohmann transfer orbit, the periapsis and apoapsis distances are and , soThe vis-viva equation gives the endpoint speedsAs a check, conservation of angular momentum at the two endpoints gives because each velocity is perpendicular to its radius. Using and gives andThe departure impulse must increase the speed in the direction of the initial circular orbit:These are Sun-centred speeds; leaving the Earth's own gravitational field would require an additional calculation beyond this idealized solar orbit transfer.
At , the desired circular orbit speed is . The arrival impulse is thereforeThe required thrust on the spacecraft is forward, tangent to its orbit, to accelerate it. The rocket ejects exhaust backwards, opposite to the spacecraft's velocity; this distinguishes the direction of thrust from the direction in which the exhaust is fired.
The Hohmann transfer time is half the orbital period of the transfer ellipse. From Kepler's third law, relative to the Earth's one-year orbital period,Meanwhile Mars's orbital period is . The spacecraft arrives radians from its departure position. For a rendezvous, Mars must reach that same position after advancing through . Thus its initial lead angle over the departing spacecraft isMars must be ahead by this angle in the common direction of motion around their orbits. At departure the spacecraft and the Earth share the inner orbital position; arrival occurs on the opposite side of the Sun.
Interpret as the vertical drop of the cylinder's centre of mass, and initially take the suspended rod to be vertical. The moment of inertia of a uniform solid cylinder is . Before impact, rolling without slipping gives , so conservation of mechanical energy givesUse the usual instantaneous smooth elastic collision model: the horizontal impact impulse passes through the cylinder's centre of mass, and the floor supplies negligible tangential impulse during impact. The cylinder's angular velocity is then unchanged during impact; its rotational kinetic energy does not transfer to the bob. The rod supplies no horizontal impulse when vertical. If and are the signed cylinder and bob velocities immediately afterwards, conservation of momentum and the unit coefficient of restitution giveDuring the subsequent simple pendulum swing, conservation of mechanical energy givesThe cylinder generally slips immediately after this impact, which is consistent with imposing rolling without slipping only on the descent.
Impact convention matters. The floor-impulse dependence of a rolling-cylinder collision gives a different answer if a different constraint is imposed. If instead the floor enforces rolling without slipping throughout the impulsive collision, it supplies a nonzero horizontal impulse. The cylinder's effective translational mass is then . Writing for the impulse delivered to the bob gives , and . Hence and , giving . The original wording specifies the descent constraint but does not specify an impulsive floor-friction law; the first boxed value uses the smooth-impact convention.
Powered ascent. Use upward signed velocity, constant gravitational acceleration , constant relative rocket exhaust speed , vertical flight from rest, no drag force, and no impulse at stage separation. The constant- approximation is an explicit modelling assumption; a varying Newtonian gravitational field would require integrating a different ascent equation. Put and . During ascent , and momentum balance gives the rocket equation with gravity:The launch rocket thrust exceeds , so immediate lift-off is consistent. At ascent burnout the entire attached vehicle still has mass , not ; the latter is the separated first stage. The burn duration and endpoint speed are
Coasting height. Integrating the ascent velocity from zero height givesFor example this follows by substituting in . At separation,The separated stage then undergoes free fall in a constant gravitational field with initial upward speed . Conservation of mechanical energy during this coast givesIts smaller mass after separation does not change that coasting height.
Reserve burn. On descending to , conservation of mechanical energy gives downward speedReset time to at reserve ignition. Now , and . Downward ejection supplies upward rocket thrust. The upward signed velocity isThus the formal free-flight burnout value iscorresponding to a formal downward speed of . Keeping throughout instead gives downward; premature rounding is especially damaging because three large velocity terms almost cancel.
The free-flight endpoint is below ground. Integrating the same reserve-burn velocity givesAt the stated endpoint this gives for . The surface is crossed at approximately , before reserve burnout. The stage has already hit the surface, so a physical post-impact burnout speed cannot be inferred without a ground-contact model. The boxed velocity is the intended ideal continuation, not an achievable free-flight landing result under these exact assumptions. In particular, the given numbers do not describe an exact soft landing. The constant-rate retro-rocket landing must satisfy both its velocity and height conditions.
Constant-gravity reserve descent: the formal trajectory crosses ground before its nominal burnout
. Details. Axis theorems. The parallel axis theorem stateswhere is the moment of inertia about an axis through the centre of mass, is about a parallel axis, is the body's total mass, and is the perpendicular separation of the axes. Expanding proves the result because at the centre of mass. The perpendicular axis theorem applies to a planar lamina in the plane:All three axes meet at the same point, lie in the lamina and is normal to it; the identity follows from being the squared distance to the axis. It is not a theorem for an arbitrary three-dimensional body.
Cylinder integrals. Put the cylinder's midpoint at and its symmetry axis along . Its uniform mass density is . The transverse moment of inertia of a uniform solid cylinder about the axis isEquivalently each thin circular slice has diametral moment of inertia , by the perpendicular axis theorem and symmetry, and shifting it by adds . The parallel axis theorem then gives the transverse end-axis moment of inertia:The axial moment of inertia of a uniform solid cylinder is . Equating it to givesHere the source's principal axis means the cylinder's symmetry axis; its transverse centre axes are also principal axes. This equality describes a short cylinder rather than the thin-rod limit.
Hammer dynamics and forces. Treat the compact head as a point mass and neglect its intrinsic moment of inertia. Let be the displacement from downward vertical, and let point along the rod from pivot to head, with in the direction of increasing . DefineThe two external weights and act at distances and from the pivot. The frictionless pivot supplies a reaction but no torque about its axis. The total restoring torque and rotational equation of motion areFor completeness, Newton's second law for the centre of mass gives both components of the pivot force:The negative radial component points towards the pivot. These follow from the centre of mass acceleration and the total weight . They specify the external forces even when the oscillation is not small.
With the small-angle approximation, , this is simple harmonic motion. The physical pendulum has small-amplitude oscillation periodFor release from a finite amplitude , conservation of mechanical energy instead gives . Integrating a quarter-cycle gives the exact oscillation periodwhere is the complete elliptic integral of the first kind; recovers .
For and , compare with the simple pendulum value :For small oscillations, the hammer's oscillation period is about shorter. The extra rod weight adds restoring torque proportionately faster than it adds pivot moment of inertia.
Assume the station's mass remains fixed through an instantaneous kick, with subsequent motion governed only by the Earth's Newtonian gravitational field. Put , and work per unit station mass. The initial circular orbit has specific angular momentum and specific orbital energy given byLet denote the fractional increase of kinetic energy. The position and potential energy are unchanged during the kick, soUnchanged angular momentum at unchanged position fixes the tangential velocity; the added kinetic energy must be radial. Thus this is a radial kick, not a purely tangential speed increase. The new orbital eccentricity follows fromAt either radial turning point, the Kepler radial energy equation gives . Its two roots, equivalently the periapsis and apoapsis of the elliptic orbit, areFor , andAn inward or outward kick gives the same pair of radial turning points, although it places the station at a different phase of the orbit. These two finite positive radii require .
The free rod has the same mass and length as in part (a). There is no pivot. Put the rod's initial center of mass at and the impact end at . At impact the combined center of mass isConservation of momentum gives the combined center of mass velocity . Evaluate angular momentum about this combined center of mass; the incident ball's perpendicular lever arm is , so its initial magnitude is .
After the perfectly inelastic collision, the parallel axis theorem gives the combined moment of inertiaWith negligible external angular impulse, conservation of angular momentum therefore givesIts sense is that of the incident ball's angular momentum, clockwise in the source diagram. As a consistency check, the final kinetic energy isThus , or one fifth of the initial kinetic energy, is dissipated in sticking. Treating the rod's original centre as a fixed pivot would give an incorrect angular velocity.
Use upward generalized coordinates. Let be the displacement of the lower pulley and that of the mass. The two inextensible mechanical strings imposeFor ideal massless pulleys and mechanical strings, only the three masses contribute kinetic energy. HenceUp to a constant, their gravitational potential energy isThe Lagrangian of this compound Atwood machine is therefore

