Past exam of the physics 1 paper of the University of Oxford / 2018 / 10

Take $x$ positive downward and put zero gravitational potential energy at the spring's support. The mass is then a distance $l+x$ below that reference, so $V_g=-mg(l+x)$. Hooke's law gives the elastic potential energy $k{x}^2/2$. ThereforeThe constant term $mgl$ fixes the requested reference but does not affect the motion. The Euler-Lagrange equation isThis is exactly Newton's second law with gravity downward and spring force $kx$ upward for positive extension. The static extension is $x_0=mg/k$.

For the elastic pendulum, set $r=l+x>0$ and measure $\theta$ from the downward vertical. In the vertical plane, Cartesian coordinates are $X=r\sin \theta$ and $Z=-r\cos \theta$, with $Z$ upward. Differentiating gives ${\dot{X}}^2+{\dot{Z}}^2={\dot{x}}^2+r^2{\dot{\theta }}^2$. Thus the Lagrangian isFor $x$, the Euler-Lagrange equation givesFor $\theta$, the canonical momentum is $p_{\theta }=m(l+x{)}^2\dot{\theta }$. Its Euler-Lagrange equation isor, for positive length,At an equilibrium, all time derivatives vanish, so $kx=mg\cos \theta$ and $\sin \theta =0$. Modulo full rotations, the two formal possibilities areThe lower configuration always has positive length. The upper one is a physical straight-spring configuration only if $l>mg/k$. For example, $l=mg/(2k)$ would give the purported upper state a negative length $-mg/(2k)$; at $l=mg/k$ its zero length makes the angular coordinate singular. Also, the straight compressed spring is an idealization; a real unsupported compressed spring can buckle.

The potential energy is $V=k{x}^2/2-mg(l+x)\cos \theta$. At either formal stationary point its mixed second derivative vanishes, whileBoth curvatures are positive at the lower state, making it a stable equilibrium; the upper state, when it has positive length, has negative angular curvature and is unstable.

To linearize about the stable state, define the small displacement $\xi =x-mg/k$, not $x$ itself, and $r_0=l+mg/k$. Products such as ${\dot{\theta }}^2$, $\dot{\xi }\dot{\theta }$ and $\xi \ddot{\theta }$ are second order, while $\cos \theta =1+O({\theta }^2)$ and $\sin \theta =\theta +O({\theta }^3)$. The first-order equations of motion therefore decouple:There are two independent normal modes. The radial one is vertical simple harmonic motion with angular frequency ${\omega }_r=\sqrt{k/m}$. The transverse one is a simple pendulum oscillation at fixed, statically stretched length $r_0$, with angular frequency ${\omega }_{\theta }=\sqrt{g/r_0}$. Their decoupling is a first-order small-oscillation result, not an assertion about the nonlinear motion of the elastic pendulum.