See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/337944214

MATLAB for Physics (Manual)

Article · December 2019

CITATIONS READS
0 2,278

6 authors, including:

Muhammad Shiraz Ahmad Muzamil Shah

Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore University of Management Sciences
9 PUBLICATIONS   0 CITATIONS    12 PUBLICATIONS   32 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Faizan Saleem Shanian Muhammad Boota

National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences 1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS   
1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS   
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Exotic Matter and Search for Magnetic Monopoles (MoEDAL Experiment at CERN) View project

Estimating Quality of Apples Using A Polarization Based Sensor View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Muhammad Shiraz Ahmad on 15 December 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 MATLAB for Physics

Manual for BS Computer Science Students

Supervised by:
Dr. Saman Shahid
(Department of S&H, Lahore Campus)
Collaborators:
Muhammad Shiraz Ahmad
Muzamil Shah
Faizan Saleem
Shanian Mehar
Muhammad Bilal Azam

Department of Science and Humanities

National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Lahore Campus.
Contents

List of Figures 3

1 Introduction to MATLAB 4
1.1 Some Basic Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.1 Vectors and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2 Basic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1.3 Plotting in MATLAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.4 Element–Wise Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2 Vectors, Arrays and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2.1 Vector Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.1 For Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.2 If Else Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2 Physics with MATLAB 17

2.1 Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.1 Gravitational Force between Two Masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.2 Gravitational Force–An Inverse Square Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1.3 Free Fall Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.1.4 Projectile Motion without making Custom Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.5 Projectile Motion by making Custom Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2 Waves and Oscillations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2.1 SHM as Circular Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 Electricity and Magnetism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.1 Coulomb Force between Charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3.2 Coulomb Force between Charges using For Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.3 Fields due to Discrete and Line Charge Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.4 Electric Fields due to dipole in a 2D plane using the Coulomb’s Law . . . . 36
2.3.5 Electric Field due to a Point Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3.6 Electric Field due to a Dipole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.3.7 Electric Potential due to a Point Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3 Some Structured Questions with Numerical Analysis 42

3.1 Questions from Vector Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.2 Questions from One–Dimensional Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2
List of Figures

1.1 A sample 2D graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1.2 A sample 3D graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 A sample mesh plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4 A sample surf plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 A sample plot with title and axes labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 A sample subplot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.1 Falling objects in free fall (for t = 11.3 seconds) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.2 Trajectory of a projectile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Range of a projectile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 Height of a projectile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.5 Trajectory of a projectile (using custom functions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6 Phase Angle vs. Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.7 Phase Angle vs. Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.8 Phase Angle vs. Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.9 SHM as circular motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.10 Phase Angle vs. Position, Velocity and Acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.11 Electrostatic (Coulomb) force as inverse square law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.12 Electrostatic (Coulomb) force as inverse square law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.13 Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to point charge at origin (0,0,0) . . . . . . . . 35
2.14 Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to line charge along z–axis . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.15 Electric field distribution of a dipole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.16 Electric Field due to a Point Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.17 Electric Field due to a Dipole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.18 Electric Potential due to a Point Charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3
 Chapter 1

Introduction to MATLAB

1.1 Some Basic Commands

MATLAB uses double–precision floating point arithmetic accurate to approximately 15 digits,
however, only 5 digits are displayed, by default. 1 To display more digits, type format long.
Then all subsequent numerical output will have 15 digits displayed. Type format short to
return to 5–digit display.

1 >> pi
2 ans =
3 3.1416
4 >> format long
5 >> pi
6 ans =
7 3.141592653589793
8 >> format short
9 >> pi
10 ans =
11 3.1416

1.1.1 Vectors and Matrices

1 >> u = [1,5,11,4] % Vector u is defined separated by commas
2 u =
3 1 5 11 4
4 >> v = [2 −1 6 −7 10 −7] % Vector v is defined separated by spaces
5 v =
6 2 −1 6 −7 10 −7
7 >> newv = [u v] % Concatenating vectors
1
Most of the content of this section is taken from the book A Guide to MATLAB: For Beginners and Experienced
Users by Brian R. Hunt, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Ronald L Lipsman

4
 8 newv =
9 1 5 11 4 2 −1 6 −7 10 −7
10 >> u4 = u(4) % Extracting the elements of a vector, i.e., u
(4)
11 u4 =
12 4
13 >> u=[1:6] % Generate a vector of equally−spaced elements
with colon operator
14 u =
15 1 2 3 4 5 6
16 >> u=[1:2:14] % Increment by 2
17 u =
18 1 3 5 7 9 11 13
19 >> transu = u' % Get the tranpose of u
20 transu =
21 1
22 3
23 5
24 7
25 9
26 11
27 13

To type a matrix you must: begin with a square bracket, separate elements in a row with
commas or spaces, use a semicolon to separate rows, end the matrix with another square bracket.
1 >> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]
2 A =
3 1 2 3
4 4 5 6
5 7 8 9
6 >> A3r = A(3,:) % To publish 3rd row of the a matrix
7 A3r =
8 7 8 9
9 >> A2c = A(:,2) % To publish 2nd column of the a matrix
10 A2c =
11 2
12 5
13 8

1.1.2 Basic Functions

In MATLAB you will use built-in functions as well as functions that you create yourself. MATLAB
has many built-in functions, typing help elfun and/or help specfun calls up full lists of
elementary and special functions. These include sqrt, cos, sin, tan, log, and, exp.

5
 1 >> a = sin(45) % Compute sine of 45 in radians
2 a =
3 0.8509
4 >> b = sind(45) % Compute sine of 45 in degrees
5 b =
6 0.7071
7 >> c = cos(45) % Compute cosine of 45 in radians
8 c =
9 0.5253
10 >> d = cosd(45) % Compute cosine of 45 in degrees
11 d =
12 0.7071
13 >> e = tan(45) % Compute tangent of 45 in radians
14 e =
15 1.6198
16 >> f = tand(45) % Compute tangent of 45 in degrees
17 f =
18 1
19 >> g = acsc(45) % Compute the cosecant−inverse of 45 in radians
20 g =
21 0.0222
22 >> h = asec(45) % Compute the secant−inverse of 45 in radians
23 h =
24 1.5486
25 >> i = acotd(45) % Compute the cotangent−inverse of 45 in degrees
26 i =
27 1.2730
28 >> j = log(45) % Compute the natural logarithm of 45
29 j =
30 3.8067
31 >> k = log10(45) % Compute the common logarithm of 45
32 k =
33 1.6532
34 >> l = log2(45) % Compute the logarithm in base 2 of 45
35 l =
36 5.4919
37 >> m = exp(45) % Compute the exponential of 45
38 m =
39 3.4934e+19
40 >> n = sqrt(45) % Compute the square root of 45
41 n =
42 6.7082

2
Major content of this section taken from the https://www.mathworks.com/help/index.html.

6
 1.1.3 Plotting in MATLAB
The command plot produces 2D graphics2 . Before using plot command, define the interval for
the independent variable x and the function of the form y = f (x). Then plot(x,y) command
is called to obtain the figure of f (x) with respect to x, as shown in figure 1.1.

1 >> x = 0:0.01:2*pi;
2 >> y = sin(x);
3 >> plot(x,y)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Figure 1.1: A sample 2D graph

And for 3D plots, use plot3(x,y,z). A graph of sample function is shown in figure 1.2.

1 >> x = 1:5;
2 >> y = [0 −3 −5 12 3];
3 >> z = 2:2:10;
4 >> plot3(x,y,z,'k*')
5 >> grid

MATLAB has several other plotting functions: fplot (similar to plt), subplot (multiple
plots on the same window), ezplot3 (3D plots), mesh (3D plots), surf (3D plots) etc. For
example, to create mesh, assume we have three matrices of the same size. Then plot them as a
mesh plot. The plot uses Z for both height and color. It is shown in figure 1.3.

7
 Figure 1.2: A sample 3D graph

1 [X,Y] = meshgrid(−8:.5:8);
2 R = sqrt(X.^2 + Y.^2) + eps;
3 Z = sin(R)./R;
4 mesh(X,Y,Z)

Another example from surf will clear the idea more. Create a 2D grid with uniformly spaced x–
coordinates and y–coordinates in the interval [−2, 2]. Then evaluate and plot the function f (x, y) =
2 2
xe−x −y over the 2D grid. It is shown in figure 1.4.

1 x = −2:0.25:2;
2 y = x;
3 [X,Y] = meshgrid(x);
4 F = X.*exp(−X.^2−Y.^2);
5 surf(X,Y,F)

You can have a title on a graph, label each axis, change the font and font size, set up the scale
for each axis and have a legend for the graph. You can also have multiple graphs per page. For
example, we will add a title and axis labels to a chart by using the title, xlabel, and ylabel
functions, as shown in figure 1.5. We can also add a legend to the graph that identifies each data
set using the legend function. Beware to specify the legend descriptions in the order that you
plot the lines.

1 x = linspace(−2*pi,2*pi,100);
2 y1 = sin(x);

8
 Figure 1.3: A sample mesh plot

Figure 1.4: A sample surf plot

3 y2 = cos(x);
4 figure
5 plot(x,y1,x,y2)
6 title('Line Plot of Sine and Cosine Between −2\pi and 2\pi')

9
7 xlabel('−2\pi < x < 2\pi')
8 ylabel('Sine and Cosine Values')
9 legend({'y = sin(x)','y = cos(x)'})

Line Plot of Sine and Cosine Between -2 and 2

1
y = sin(x)
0.8 y = cos(x)

0.6
Sine and Cosine Values

0.4

0.2

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
-2 < x < 2

Figure 1.5: A sample plot with title and axes labeling

You can use the subplot command to obtain several smaller “subplots””in the same gure.
The syntax is subplot(m,n,p). This command divides the Figure window into an array of
rectangular panes with m rows and n columns. The variable p tells MATLAB to place the
output of the plot command following the subplot command into the pth pane. For example,
subplot(3,2,5) creates an array of six panes, three panes deep and two panes across, and
directs the next plot to appear in the fth pane (in the bottom left corner), as shown in figure 1.6.
Also xlim(limits) sets the x–axis limits for the current axes or chart. Specify limits as a two–
element vector of the form [xmin xmax], where xmax is greater than xmin. Or axis can also
be used to specify axes limit.

1 x = 0:0.01:5;
2 y = exp(−1.2*x).*sin(10*x+5);
3 subplot(1,2,1)
4 plot(x,y)
5 xlabel('x')
6 ylabel('y')
7 xlim([0 5])
8 ylim([−1 1])
9

10
10 x = −6:0.01:6;
11 y = abs(x.^3−100);
12 subplot(1,2,2)
13 plot(x,y)
14 xlabel('x')
15 ylabel('y')
16 axis([−6 6 0 350])

1 350

0.8
300

0.6

250
0.4

0.2
200

0
y

y
150
-0.2

-0.4
100

-0.6

50
-0.8

-1 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6
x x

Figure 1.6: A sample subplot

1.1.4 Element–Wise Operations

Sometimes we need to carry out operations on individual elements of an array.

1 % Let us start with an array x

2 x = [0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00];
3
4 % We would like to square each element of the array. In matlab, this can be
done with:
5 % x.^2 % Notice the dot (.) in front of exponentiation (^).
6
7 x2 = x.^2
8 x2 =
9 0 0.0625 0.2500 0.5625 1.0000

3
Most of the content of this section is taken from the book A Concise Introduction to Matlab 3rd ed. by William J.

11
 Similarly, all algebraic operations can be carried out element–wise on arrays and matrices.

1.2 Vectors, Arrays and Matrices

One of the strengths of MATLAB is its ability to handle collections of numbers, called arrays, as
if they were a single variable3 . A numerical array is an ordered collection of numbers (a set of
numbers arranged in a specific order). An example of an array variable is one that contains the
numbers 0, 4, 3, and 6, in that order. We use square brackets to denote that the variable x contain
this collection by typing x = [0, 4, 3, 6]. The elements of the array may also be separated by spaces,
but commas are preferred to improve readability and avoid mistakes.

1.2.1 Vector Algebra

1 %% Representation of Vectors
2
3 % List of numbers
4 % Enclose in square brackets
5 % Matlab treat every number as a vector
6
7 a = [1 2 3 4 5]
8 b = [6 7 8 9 10]
9
10 %% Semicolon ';' The semicolon cnn be used to construct arrays,
11 % supress output from a MATLAB command,
12 % or to separate commands entered on the same line.
13
14 % Addition of vectors
15 add = a + b
16
17 % Subtraction of vectors
18 sub = b − a
19
20 %% Multiplication of a vector by a scalar
21
22 g = 5*a
23 h = 4*b
24
25 % You can also check the following commands as well.
26 %(a) a + b
27 %(b) a* b
28 %(c) a*c
29 %(d) a.*d

Palm III

12
30 %(e) a.*b
31
32 %% norm can be used to find the magnitude of a vector
33
34 aNorm = norm(a)
35 bNorm = norm(b)
36
37 %% Dot Product of Real Vectors
38
39 A1 = [4 −1 2];
40 B1 = [2 −2 −1];
41
42 DotProduct = dot(A1,B1)
43
44 %% Cross Product of Real Vectors
45
46 a1 = [1 2 3];
47 b1 = [4 5 6];
48
49 crossproduct = cross(a1,b1)
50
51 %% Angle theta
52
53 u = [1 2 0];
54 v = [1 0 0];
55
56 CosTheta = dot(u,v)/(norm(u)*norm(v))
57
58 %% theta in Degrees
59
60 ThetaInDegree = acosd(CosTheta)

And their outputs are shown below.

1 a =
2 1 2 3 4 5
3 b =
4 6 7 8 9 10
5 add =
6 7 9 11 13 15
7 sub =
8 5 5 5 5 5
9 g =
10 5 10 15 20 25
11 h =
12 24 28 32 36 40

13
13 aNorm =
14 7.4162
15 bNorm =
16 18.1659
17 DotProduct =
18 8
19 crossproduct =
20 −3 6 −3
21 CosTheta =
22 0.4472
23 ThetaInDegree =
24 63.4349

Arrays can be combined to create matrices. To create a matrix that has multiple rows, separate
the rows with semicolons. To transpose a matrix, use a single quote (’). The matrix operators
for multiplication, division, and power each have a corresponding array operator that operates
element–wise.

1 >> a = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 10]
2 a =
3 1 2 3
4 4 5 6
5 7 8 10
6 >> aTrans = a'
7 aTrans =
8 1 4 7
9 2 5 8
10 3 6 10
11 >> a3 = a.^3
12 a3 =
13 1 8 27
14 64 125 216
15 343 512 1000

Concatenation is the process of joining arrays to make larger ones. In fact, you made your first
array by concatenating its individual elements. The pair of square brackets [] is the concatenation
operator.
1 >> A = [a,a]
2 A =
3 1 2 3 1 2 3
4 4 5 6 4 5 6
5 7 8 10 7 8 10

Concatenating arrays next to one another using commas is called horizontal concatenation.
Each array must have the same number of rows. Similarly, when the arrays have the same number

14
 of columns, you can concatenate vertically using semicolons.
1 >> A = [a; a]
2 A =
3 1 2 3
4 4 5 6
5 7 8 10
6 1 2 3
7 4 5 6
8 7 8 10

1.3 Loops
To use MATLAB to solve many physics problems you have to know how to write loops4 . A loop
is a way of repeatedly executing a section of code. It is so important to know how to write them
that several common examples of how they are used will be given here. The two kinds of loops we
will use are the for loop and the while loop.

1.3.1 For Loop

The for loop looks like this:
for n = 1:N . . . end
which tells MATLAB to start n at 1, then increment it by 1 over and over until it counts up to N ,
executing the code between for and end for each new value of n. For example, let’s find the sum
N
X 1
of the series 2
.
n=1
n

1 s = 0; % set a variable to zero so that 1/n^2 can be repeatedly added

to it
2 N = 10000; % set the upper limit of the sum
3
4 for n=1:N % start of the loop
5 s = s + 1/n^2; % add 1/n^2 to s each time, then put the answer back into
s
6 end % end of the loop
7
8 fprintf('Sum = %g \n',s) % print the answer

And the Sum comes out to be 1.64483.

4
Most of the content of this section is taken from the book A Concise Introduction to Matlab 3rd ed. by William J.
Palm III

15
 1.3.2 If Else Condition
if expression, statements, end evaluates an expression, and executes a group of statements when
the expression is true. An expression is true when its result is nonempty and contains only nonzero
elements (logical or real numeric). Otherwise, the expression is false. The elseif and else
blocks are optional. The statements execute only if previous expressions in the if...end block
are false. An if block can include multiple elseif blocks.
For example, the value of f (x) is −3x when x < 0; x(x − 3) when x is in [0, 2] and log (x − 3)
otherwise. To calculate f (x), a simple MATLAB program can be written as:

1 if x < 0
2 f = −3*x
3 elseif x <= 2
4 f = x*(x−3)
5 else
6 f = log10(x−1)
7 end

16
 Chapter 2

Physics with MATLAB

2.1 Mechanics
2.1.1 Gravitational Force between Two Masses

1 % This program calculates and displays the Gravitational Force between two
masses
2
3 % Input Variables
4 mass_1 = input('Enter the value of mass 1 (in kilogram) ');
5 mass_2 = input('Enter the value of mass 2 (in kilogram)');
6 distance = input('Enter the value of distance ');
7 G = 6.67*10^(−11); % Gravitational constant in the units of Nm^2/kg^2:
8
9 % Calculation
10 force = (G .* mass_1 .* mass_2)./(distance.^2); % computes the value of
Gravitational Force
11 display(['Force between the masses is = ',num2str(force),' newtons.'])

And the outputs (from command window) with arbitrary masses and distance are:

1 Enter the value of mass 1 (in kilogram) 2.5

2 Enter the value of mass 2 (in kilogram)1.093
3 Enter the value of distance 1.0e−5
4 Force between the masses is = 1.8226 newtons.

2.1.2 Gravitational Force–An Inverse Square Law

1 % We will show that gravitational force follows inverse square law.

2
3 % Input Variables

17
 4 mass_1 = input('Enter the value of mass 1 (in kilogram) = ');
5 mass_2 = input('Enter the value of mass 2 (in kilogram) = ');
6 r = input('Enter a positive value of distance (in meters) = ');
7 G = 6.67*10^(−11); % Gravitational constant in the units of Nm^2/kg^2
8
9 % Calculations
10 dr = r/200; % calculates the Step Size
11 distance = r:dr:2*r; % creates an array of 200 values
12 force = (G .* mass_1 .* mass_2)./(distance.^2);
13 plot(distance.^2,force,'LineWidth',1.5)
14 xlabel('Distance in meters^2')
15 ylabel('Force in kgm/s^2')

And the outputs (from command window) with arbitrary masses and distance and the behavior of
force with distance is shown below.

1 Enter the value of mass 1 (in kilogram) = 2.5

2 Enter the value of mass 2 (in kilogram) = 1.093
3 Enter a positive value of distance (in meters) = 1.0e−9

2.1.3 Free Fall Motion

1 % Input Variable:
2 % tfinal = final time (in seconds)
3 %
4 % Output Variables:
5 % t = array of times at which speed is % computed (in seconds)
6 % v = array of speeds (meters/second)
7
8 g = 9.81; % Acceleration in SI units
9 tfinal = input('Enter final time (in seconds): ');
10 dt = tfinal/500;
11 t = 0:dt:tfinal; % Creates an array of 501 time values
12 v = g*t;
13 plot(t,v)
14 xlabel('t in sec')
15 ylabel('v in m/s')

18
 120

100

80
v in m/s

60

40

20

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
t in sec

Figure 2.1: Falling objects in free fall (for t = 11.3 seconds)

2.1.4 Projectile Motion without making Custom Functions

1 %% Projectile's trajectory
2
3 x = 1:0.1:80;
4 g = 9.8;
5 v0 = 30;
6 theta = 30;
7 y = x .* tand(theta) − (x.^2 * g)/(2 * v0^2 * (cosd(theta)^2));
8 plot(x,y,'r','linewidth',1.5)
9
10 hold on
11 theta1 = 45;
12 y1 = x .* tand(theta1) − (x.^2 * g)/(2 * v0^2 * (cosd(theta1)^2));
13 plot(x,y1,'b','linewidth',1.5)
14
15 theta2 = 60;
16 y2 = x .* tand(theta2) − (x.^2 * g)/(2 * v0^2 * (cosd(theta2)^2));
17 plot(x,y2,'g','linewidth',1.5)
18

19
19 xlabel('x')
20 ylabel('y')
21 legend('\theta = 30^{o}','\theta = 45^{o}','\theta = 60^{o}')
22 hold off
23
24 %% Range of projectile
25
26 theta_new = 0:0.01:90;
27 R = (v0^2 * sind(2*theta_new))/g;
28 plot(theta_new,R,'r','linewidth',1.5)
29 xlabel('Angle (in degrees)')
30 ylabel('Range (in meters)')
31
32 %% Height of projectile
33
34 theta_new = 0:0.1:90;
35 H = (v0^2 * sind(theta_new).^2)/(2*g);
36 plot(theta_new,H,'r','linewidth',1.5)
37 xlabel('Angle (in degrees)')
38 ylabel('Height (in meters)')

35
= 30 o
o
30 = 45
o
= 60
25

20

15
y

10

-5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
x

Figure 2.2: Trajectory of a projectile

20
 100

90

80

70
Range (in meters)

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Angle (in degrees)

Figure 2.3: Range of a projectile

50

45

40

35
Height (in meters)

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Angle (in degrees)

Figure 2.4: Height of a projectile

21
 2.1.5 Projectile Motion by making Custom Functions
To run any script, all files should be in the same directory.

• Make a custom function for the height of the projectile.

1 %% Syntax
2 % Height = HProjectile(Angle of Incidence in degrees,velocity in m/s)
3 % File = HProjectile.m
4
5 %% Function
6
7 function H = HProjectile(Theta,v)
8 H = (v.^2).*((sind(Theta)).^2)./(2.*(9.8));
9 end

• Make a custom function for the range of the projectile.

1 %% Syntax
2 % Range = RProjectile(Angle of Incidence in degrees,velocity in m/s)
3 % File = RProjectile.m
4
5 %% Function
6
7 function R = RProjectile(Theta,v)
8 R = (v.^2).*(sind(2.*Theta))./(9.8);
9 end

• Make a custom function for the trajectory of the projectile.

1 %% Syntax
2 % trProjectile(Angle of Incidence in degrees,velocity in m/s)
3 % File = trProjectile.m
4
5 %% Function
6 function y = trProjectile(Theta,v)
7 x = 0:0.1:RProjectile(Theta,v);
8
9 for i = 1:length(x)
10 y(i) = tand(Theta).*x(i) − ((9.8).*x(i).^2)./(2.*(v.*cosd(Theta)).^2);
11 end

22
12
13 plot(x,y,'linewidth',1.5);
14 grid on
15 xlabel('Range (m)')
16 ylabel('Altitude (m)')

Now define Theta and v in the command window or in an a new MATLAB file and run
HProjectile(Theta,v), RProjectile(Theta,v), trProjectile(Theta,v) for
output. An example (only values) from command window is shown below.

1 >> Theta = 45;

2 >> v = 10;
3 >> H = HProjectile(Theta,v)
4 H =
5 2.5510
6 >> R = RProjectile(Theta,v)
7 R =
8 10.2041
9 >> Y = trProjectile(Theta,v);

2.5

2
Altitude (m)

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Range (m)

Figure 2.5: Trajectory of a projectile (using custom functions)

23
 2.2 Waves and Oscillations

2.2.1 SHM as Circular Motion

1 %% This code will demonstrate from equations of motion of SHM that SHM is a
type of circular motion.
2 % Code starts from here.
3
4 clear all % Clears the workspace
5 close all % Close all previous plots and figures
6 clc % Clears the command window
7
8
9 N = 1080; % Declare total phase of oscillation
10 A0 = 10; % Declare amplitude
11 theta(1) = 0; % Initial value of theta
12
13
14 for i=1:N; % For loop to find phase angle
15 % theta(i) is the previous angle and theta(i+1) in the new angle.
16 % theta is measured in radians.
17 theta(i+1) = theta(i) + 1;
18 % Convert theta(i+1) into degrees by multiplying it with (pi/180).
19 % alpha(i) is the new theta(i+1) measured in degrees.
20 alpha(i) = (pi/180) * theta(i+1);
21 end
22
23
24 % In the next three for loops, x represents first simple harmonic
25 % oscillator and y represents second simple harmonic oscillator
26
27
28 % For loop to find position of both SHOs
29 for i=1:N;
30 x(i) = A0 * cos(alpha(i)); % Position equation of first SHO
31 y(i) = A0 * sin(alpha(i)); % Position equation of second SHO
32 end
33
34
35 % For loop to find velocity of both SHOs
36 for i=1:N;
37 vx(i) = − A0 * sin(alpha(i)); % Velocity equation of first SHO
38 vy(i) = A0 * cos(alpha(i)); % Velocity equation of second SHO
39 end

24
40
41
42 % For loop to find acceleration of both SHOs
43 for i=1:N;
44 ax(i) = − A0 * cos(alpha(i)); % Acceleration equation of first SHO
45 ay(i) = − A0 * sin(alpha(i)); % Acceleration equation of second SHO
46 end
47
48
49 % Let's plot Phase Angle vs. Position
50 figure(1);
51 hold on % hold ON sets the NextPlot property of the current figure and
axes to add.
52 plot(alpha,x,'linewidth',1.5) % LineWidth sets the width of line.
53 plot(alpha,y,'linewidth',1.5)
54 xlabel('Phase Angle') % xlabel('text') adds text beside the X−axis.
55 ylabel('Amplitude') % ylabel('text') adds text beside the Y−axis.
56 ylim([−12 12]) % ylim([YMIN YMAX] sets the y limits.
57 legend('x(i)','y(i)')
58 title('Phase Angle vs. Position (in SHM)')
59 grid on % grid ON adds major grid lines.
60 hold off % hold OFF sets the NextPlot property of the current figure and
axes to replace.
61
62
63 % Let's plot Phase Angle vs. Velocity
64 figure(2);
65 hold on
66 plot(alpha,vx,'linewidth',1.5)
67 plot(alpha,vy,'linewidth',1.5)
68 xlabel('Phase Angle')
69 ylabel('Velocity')
70 ylim([−12 12])
71 legend('v_{x}(i)','v_{y}(i)')
72 title('Phase Angle vs. Velocity (in SHM)')
73 grid on
74 hold off
75
76
77 % Let's plot Phase Angle vs. Acceleration
78 figure(3);
79 hold on
80 plot(alpha,ax,'linewidth',1.5)
81 plot(alpha,ay,'linewidth',1.5)
82 xlabel('Phase Angle')

25
 83 ylabel('Acceleration')
84 ylim([−12 12])
85 legend('a_{x}(i)','a_{y}(i)')
86 title('Phase Angle vs. Acceleration (in SHM)')
87 grid on
88 hold off
89
90
91 % Let's plot to show that both SHOs depict circular motion
92 figure(4);
93 plot(x,y,'linewidth',1.5)
94 xlabel('x(t)')
95 ylabel('y(t)')
96 xlim([−12 12])
97 ylim([−12 12])
98 title('Simple Harmonic Motion as Circular Motion')
99 grid on
100
101
102 % Let's combine first three plots into one.
103 figure;
104 subplot(3,1,1) % Write help
subplot in Command Window to understand it
105 title('Phase Angle vs. Position, Velocity and Acceleration (in SHM)');
106 hold on
107 plot(alpha,x,'linewidth',1.5)
108 plot(alpha,y,'linewidth',1.5)
109 ylabel('Amplitude')
110 ylim([−12 12])
111 legend('x(i)','y(i)')
112 grid on
113 hold off
114
115
116 subplot(3,1,2)
117 hold on
118 plot(alpha,vx,'linewidth',1.5)
119 plot(alpha,vy,'linewidth',1.5)
120 ylabel('Velocity')
121 ylim([−12 12])
122 legend('v_{x}(i)','v_{y}(i)')
123 grid on
124 hold off
125
126

26
127 subplot(3,1,3)
128 hold on
129 plot(alpha,ax,'linewidth',1.5)
130 plot(alpha,ay,'linewidth',1.5)
131 xlabel('Phase Angle')
132 ylabel('Acceleration')
133 ylim([−12 12])
134 legend('a_{x}(i)','a_{y}(i)')
135 grid on
136 hold off
137
138 %% Task completed.

Phase Angle vs. Position (in SHM)

x(i)
10
y(i)

5
Amplitude

-5

-10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Phase Angle

Figure 2.6: Phase Angle vs. Position

27
 Phase Angle vs. Velocity (in SHM)

v (i)
10 x
vy(i)

5
Velocity

-5

-10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Phase Angle

Figure 2.7: Phase Angle vs. Velocity

Phase Angle vs. Acceleration (in SHM)

ax(i)
10
a (i)
y

5
Acceleration

-5

-10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Phase Angle

Figure 2.8: Phase Angle vs. Acceleration

28
 Simple Harmonic Motion as Circular Motion

10

5
y(t)

-5

-10

-10 -5 0 5 10
x(t)

Figure 2.9: SHM as circular motion

Phase Angle vs. Position, Velocity and Acceleration (in SHM)

10
x(i)
Amplitude

y(i)
0

-10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

10
v x (i)
Velocity

v y (i)
0

-10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

10
ax (i)
Acceleration

ay (i)
0

-10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Phase Angle

Figure 2.10: Phase Angle vs. Position, Velocity and Acceleration

29
 2.3 Electricity and Magnetism

2.3.1 Coulomb Force between Charges

1 %% Coulomb law for two point charges

2
3 eps0 = 8.854e−12;
4 kC = 1/(4*pi*eps0);
5 q1 = −1e−13;
6 q2 = +1e−10;
7 r = [−12:0.1:12].*1e−12;
8
9 F = (kC*q1*q2)./(r.*r);
10
11 plot(r,F,'LineWidth',1.5)
12 xlabel('Distance (in meters)')
13 ylabel('Coulomb force (in newtons)')

1012
0

-1

-2
Coulomb force (in newtons)

-3

-4

-5

-6

-7

-8

-9
-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
Distance (in meters) -11
10

Figure 2.11: Electrostatic (Coulomb) force as inverse square law

30
 2.3.2 Coulomb Force between Charges using For Loop

1 %% Cforce − Program to compute Coulomb force between charges

2 % Source: https://ualr.edu/dcwold/phys2322/cforce/cforce.html
3
4 clear all; help Cforce; % Clear memory; print header
5
6 %@ Enter your username
7 fprintf('Enter your username (userid); \n');
8 fprintf('USERNAME: ABName \n');
9 Username = input(' USERNAME: ','s'); % Read input as a text string
10 fprintf('\n');
11
12 %@ Initialize variables (e.g., positions of charges, physical constants)
13 NCharges = input('Enter the number of charges: ');
14 for iCharge=1:NCharges
15 fprintf('−−−−− \n For charge #%g \n',iCharge);
16 r_in = input('Enter position (in m) as [x y]: ');
17 x(iCharge) = r_in(1); % x−component of position
18 y(iCharge) = r_in(2); % y−component of position
19 q(iCharge) = input('Enter charge (in C): ');
20 end
21
22 %@ Find xmin, xmax, ymin, and ymax
23 xmin = min(x)−1;
24 ymin = min(y)−1;
25 xmax = max(x)+1;
26 ymax = max(y)+1;
27
28 Epsilon0 = 8.85e−12; % Permittivity of free space (C^2/(N m^2))
29 Constant = 1/(4*pi*Epsilon0); % Useful constant
30
31 %@ Loop over charges to compute the force on each charge
32 fprintf('\n\n Forces are: \n\n');
33 for iCharge = 1:NCharges
34
35 Fx = 0.0; % Initialize components of total force to zero
36 Fy = 0.0;
37
38 %@ Loop over other charges to compute force on this charge
39 for jCharge = 1:NCharges
40 if( iCharge ~= jCharge ) % If iCharge NOT equal to jCharge
41
42 %@ Compute the components of vector distance between two charges
43 xij = x(iCharge) − x(jCharge);

31
44 yij = y(iCharge) − y(jCharge);
45 Rij = sqrt(xij^2 + yij^2);
46
47 %@ Compute the x and y components of the force between
48 %@ these two charges using Coulomb's law
49
50 Fx = Fx + Constant*q(iCharge)*q(jCharge)*xij/Rij^3;
51 Fy = Fy + Constant*q(iCharge)*q(jCharge)*yij/Rij^3;
52
53 end
54 end
55 Fxnet(iCharge) = Fx;
56 Fynet(iCharge) = Fy;
57 %@ Print out the total force on this charge due to the others
58 fprintf('Force on charge #%g is: \n',iCharge);
59 fprintf(' x−component: %g N \n',Fx);
60 fprintf(' y−component: %g N \n',Fy);
61 end
62
63 %@ Plot position of charges
64 clf; % Clear graphics figure window
65 figure; % Bring figure window forward
66 plot(x,y,'bo');
67 axis([xmin xmax ymin ymax]);
68 for j = 1:NCharges
69 text(x(j),y(j),sprintf(' %g',j));
70 end
71 %@ Add force direction to position of charges
72 hold on;
73 quiver(x,y,Fxnet,Fynet,'r'); % Draw arrows for force
74 title([Username,', ',date,', ','Cforce: Position of charges and direction
of forces']);
75 xlabel('x (m)'); ylabel('y (m)');
76 hold off;

32
 17120001, 02-Nov-2019, Cforce: Position of charges and direction of forces
4

3.5

3 2
y (m)

2.5

2 1

1.5

1
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
x (m)

Figure 2.12: Electrostatic (Coulomb) force as inverse square law

2.3.3 Fields due to Discrete and Line Charge Distributions

1 %% Fields due to discrete and line charge distributions
2 % Author: S. Mandayam, ECE, Rowan University
3
4 close all;
5 clear;
6
7 [x,y,z] = meshgrid(−1:0.05:1,0.001:0.05:1,−1:0.05:1);
8 % [X,Y,Z] = meshgrid(x,y,z) returns 3−D grid coordinates defined by the
9 % vectors x, y, and z. The grid represented by X, Y, and Z has size
10 % length(y)−by−length(x)−by−length(z).
11
12 % Point Charge
13 E = 1./(x.^2+y.^2+z.^2);
14
15 figure(1);
16 slice(x,y,z,log(E),[−0.9:0.05:0.9],0.9,[−0.9:0.05:0.9]);
17 % slice(X,Y,Z,V,xslice,yslice,zslice) draws slices for the volumetric data
18 % V. Specify X,Y, and Z as the coordinate data. Specify xslice, yslice, and

33
19 % zslice as the slice locations using one of these forms:
20 shading interp;
21 % shading interp varies the color in each line segment and face by
22 % interpolating the colormap index or true color value across the line or
23 % face.
24 colormap hsv;
25 % colormap map sets the colormap for the current figure to one of the
26 % predefined colormaps. If you set the colormap for the figure, then axes
27 % and charts in the figure use the same colormap
28 xlabel('x');
29 ylabel('y');
30 zlabel('z');
31 title('Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to point charge at origin (0,0,0)'
);
32 axis square;
33 colorbar;
34 % colorbar displays a vertical colorbar to the right of the current axes or
35 % chart. Colorbars display the current colormap and indicate the mapping of
36 % data values into the colormap.
37 rotate3d on;
38 % rotate3d on turns on rotate mode and enables rotation on all axes within
39 % the current figure.
40 pause;
41 % pause temporarily stops MATLAB execution and waits for the user to press
42 % any key.
43
44 % Line Charge
45 E = 1./sqrt(x.^2+y.^2);
46 figure(2);
47 slice(x,y,z,log(E),[−0.9:0.1:0.9],0.9,[−0.9:0.1:0.9]);
48 shading interp;
49 colormap hsv;
50 xlabel('x');
51 ylabel('y');
52 zlabel('z');
53 title('Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to line charge along z−axis');
54 axis square;
55 colorbar;
56 rotate3d on;

34
Figure 2.13: Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to point charge at origin (0,0,0)

Figure 2.14: Electric Field (Log Magnitude) due to line charge along z–axis

35
 2.3.4 Electric Fields due to dipole in a 2D plane using the Coulomb’s Law

1 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
2 % This simple program computes the Electric Fields due to dipole
3 % in a 2−D plane using the Coulomb's Law
4 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
5
6 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
7 % REFERENCE
8 % SADIKU, ELEMENTS OF ELECTROMAGNETICS, 4TH EDITION, OXFORD
9 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
10
11
12 clc
13 close all; clear all;
14
15 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
16 % SYMBOLS USED IN THIS CODE
17 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
18
19 % E = Total electric field
20 % Ex = X−Component of Electric−Field
21 % Ey = Y−Component of Electric−Field
22 % n = Number of charges
23 % Q = All the 'n' charges are stored here
24 % Nx = Number of grid points in X− direction
25 % Ny = Number of grid points in Y−Direction
26 % eps_r = Relative permittivity
27 % r = distance between a selected point and the location of charge
28 % ex = unit vector for x−component electric field
29 % ey = unit vector for y−component electric field
30 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
31
32
33 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
34 % INITIALIZATION
35 % Here, all the grid, size, charges, etc. are defined
36 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
37
38 % Constant 1/(4*pi*epsilon_0) = 9*10^9
39 k = 9*10^9;
40
41 % Enter the Relative permittivity
42 eps_r = 1;
43 charge_order = 10^−9; % milli, micro, nano etc..

36
44 const = k*charge_order/eps_r;
45
46 % Enter the dimensions
47 Nx = 101; % For 1 meter
48 Ny = 101; % For 1 meter
49
50 % Enter the number of charges.
51 n = 2;
52
53 % Electric fields Initialization
54 E_f = zeros(Nx,Ny);
55 Ex = E_f;
56 Ey = E_f;
57
58 % Vectors initialization
59 ex = E_f;
60 ey = E_f;
61 r = E_f;
62 r_square = E_f;
63
64 % Array of charges
65 Q = [1,−1];
66
67 % Array of locations
68 X = [5,−5];
69 Y = [0,0];
70
71 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
72 % COMPUTATION OF ELECTRIC FIELDS
73 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
74
75 % Repeat for all the 'n' charges
76 for k = 1:n
77 q = Q(k);
78
79 % Compute the unit vectors
80 for i=1:Nx
81 for j=1:Ny
82
83 r_square(i,j) = (i−51−X(k))^2+(j−51−Y(k))^2;
84 r(i,j) = sqrt(r_square(i,j));
85 ex(i,j) = ex(i,j)+(i−51−X(k))./r(i,j);
86 ey(i,j) = ey(i,j)+(j−51−Y(k))./r(i,j);
87 end
88 end

37
 89
90
91
92 E_f = E_f + q.*const./r_square;
93
94 Ex = Ex + E_f.*ex.*const;
95 Ey = Ex + E_f.*ey.*const;
96
97 end
98
99 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
100 % PLOT THE RESULTS
101 %−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−%
102
103 x_range = (1:Nx)−51;
104 y_range = (1:Ny)−51;
105 contour_range = −8:0.02:8;
106 contour(x_range,y_range,E_f',contour_range,'linewidth',0.7);
107 axis([−15 15 −15 15]);
108 colorbar('location','eastoutside','fontsize',12);
109 xlabel('x ','fontsize',14);
110 ylabel('y ','fontsize',14);
111 title('Electric field distribution, E (x,y) in V/m','fontsize',14);

Electric field distribution, E (x,y) in V/m

15 8

6
10

4
5
2

0 0
y

-2
-5

-4
-10
-6

-15 -8
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15
x

Figure 2.15: Electric field distribution of a dipole

38
 2.3.5 Electric Field due to a Point Charge

1 k = 9e9;
2 r = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20];
3 E = zeros(20);
4 q = input('Enter Charge: ');
5
6 for i = 1:20
7 E(i) = (k*q)/(r(i)^2);
8 end
9
10 plot(r,E)
11 xlabel('Distance (m)')
12 ylabel('Electric Field (N/C)')

1010
9

7
Electric Field (N/C)

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Distance (m)

Figure 2.16: Electric Field due to a Point Charge

2.3.6 Electric Field due to a Dipole

1 eps0 = 8.85e−12;
2 k = 1/(2*pi*eps0);
3 z = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20];
4 E = zeros(20); % an array of size 20
5 q = input('Enter Charge: ');
6 d = input('Enter Distance: ');

39
 7
8 for i = 1:20
9 E(i) = (k*q*d)/(z(i)^3);
10 end
11
12 plot(z,E)
13 xlabel('Distance (m)')
14 ylabel('Electric Field (N/C)')

1012
4

3.5

3
Electric Field (N/C)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Distance (m)

Figure 2.17: Electric Field due to a Dipole

2.3.7 Electric Potential due to a Point Charge

1 k = 9e9;
2 r = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20];
3 V = zeros(20);
4 q = input('Enter Charge: ');
5
6 for i = 1:20
7 V(i) = (k*q)/(r(i));
8 end
9
10 plot(r,V)
11 xlabel('Distance (m)')
12 ylabel('Electric Potential (V)')

40
 1010
9

Electric Potential (V)

6

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Distance (m)

Figure 2.18: Electric Potential due to a Point Charge

41
 Chapter 3

Some Structured Questions with Numerical

Analysis

3.1 Questions from Vector Algebra

~ and B
• Vectors A ~ lie in an xy plane. A~ has magnitude 8.00 and angle 130°; B~ has components
Bx = −7.72 and By = −9.20. What are the angles between the negative direction of the y
~ × B,
axis and (a) the direction of A, (b) the direction of the product A ~ and (c) the direction of
~ ~
A × (B + 3.00k̂)?

1 %% Reference: Question 4−47 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014

ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 A = 8.0;
8 theta_A = 130;
9
10 vec_A = [A*cosd(theta_A) A*sind(theta_A) 0]
11
12 vec_B = [−7.72 −9.20 0];
13 vec_Y = [0 −1 0];
14
15 mag_A = sqrt(sum(vec_A.*vec_A))
16 mag_Y = sqrt(sum(vec_Y.*vec_Y))
17
18 A_dot_Y = sum(vec_A.*vec_Y)
19 theta_AY = 270 − acosd(A_dot_Y / (mag_A * mag_Y))
20

42
21 vec_Bnew = vec_B + [0 0 3];
22 cross_ABnew = cross(vec_A,vec_Bnew)
23 Y_dot_crossABnew = sum(vec_Y.*cross_ABnew)
24 mag_ABnew = sqrt(sum(cross_ABnew.*cross_ABnew))
25 theta_ABY = acosd(Y_dot_crossABnew / (mag_ABnew * mag_Y))

The outputs are as follows.

1 vec_A =
2 −5.1423 6.1284 0
3 _
mag A =
4 8.0000
5 mag_Y =
6 1
7 A_dot_Y =
8 −6.1284
9 theta_AY =
10 130
11 cross_ABnew =
12 18.3851 15.4269 94.6201
13 Y_dot_crossABnew =
14 −15.4269
15 mag_ABnew =
16 97.6164
17 theta_ABY =
18 99.0929

• Vector ~a has a magnitude of 5.0 m and is directed east. Vector ~b has a magnitude of 4.0 m and is
directed 35° west of due north. What are (a) the magnitude and (b) the direction of ~b − ~a ?

1 %% Reference: Question 3−46 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014

ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 theta = 90 − 35;
8 a = [5 0];
9 b = [−4*cosd(theta) 4*sind(theta)]
10 d = b− a
11 mag_d = sqrt(sum(d.*d))
12 theta_N = atand(d(2)./d(1))

43
13 theta_NW = 180 + theta_N
The outputs are as follows.

1 b =
2 −2.2943 3.2766
3 d =
4 −7.2943 3.2766
5 mag_d =
6 7.9964
7 theta_N =
8 −24.1897
9 theta_NW =
10 155.8103

• Two vectors ~a and ~b have the components, in meters, ax = 3.2, ay = 1.6, bx = 0.50, by = 4.5.
(a) Find the angle between the directions of ~a and ~b. There are two vectors in the xy plane that
are perpendicular to ~a and have a magnitude of 5.0 m. One, vector ~c, has a positive x component
~ a negative x component. What are (b) the x component and (c) the y
and the other, vector d,
component of vector d? ~

1 %% Reference: Question 3−48 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014

ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 theta = 90 − 35;
8 a = [3.2 1.6];
9 b = [0.5 4.5];
10 mag_a = sqrt(sum(a.*a))
11 mag_b = sqrt(sum(b.*b))
12 a_dot_b = sum(a.*b)
13 theta = acosd(a_dot_b / (mag_a * mag_b))
14 d = 5;
15 theta_a = atand(a(2)./a(1))
16 theta_d = 90 + theta_a
17 d_x = d*cosd(theta_d)
18 d_y = d*sind(theta_d)
19 vec_d = [d_x d_y]

The outputs are as follows.

44
 1 mag_a =
2 3.5777
3 mag_b =
4 4.5277
5 a_dot_b =
6 8.8000
7 theta =
8 57.0948
9 theta_a =
10 26.5651
11 theta_d =
12 116.5651
13 d_x =
14 −2.2361
15 _
d y =
16 4.4721
17 _
vec d =
18 −2.2361 4.4721

3.2 Questions from One–Dimensional Motion

• A projectile’s launch speed is five times its speed at maximum height. Find launch angle θ0 .

1 %% Reference: Question 4−29 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014

ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 % To compute it numerically, I am assuming maximum velocity equals 1.
8 % However, you are free to choose any value. It will not affect the answer.
9 v_max = 1;
10 v_0 = 5*v_max;
11 theta = acosd(v_max/v_0)

And theta comes out to be 78.4630 in degrees.

• A soccer ball is kicked from the ground with an initial speed of 19.5 m s−1 at an upward angle of
45°. A player 55 m away in the direction of the kick starts running to meet the ball at that instant.
What must be his average speed if he is to meet the ball just before it hits the ground?

45
 1 %% Reference: Question 4−30 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014
ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 v_0 = 19.5;
8 theta_0 = 45.0;
9 x_player = 55.0;
10 g = 9.80;
11 t = (2*v_0*sind(theta_0))/g
12 x_ball = v_0*cosd(theta_0)*t
13 delta_x = x_ball − x_player
14 v_avg = delta_x/t

The outputs are as follows.

1 t =
2 2.8140
3 _
x ball =
4 38.8010
5 delta_x =
6 −16.1990
7 v_avg =
8 −5.7566

• A lowly high diver pushes off horizontally with a speed of 2.00 m s−1 from the platform edge
10.0 m above the surface of the water. (a) At what horizontal distance from the edge is the diver
0.800 s after pushing off? (b) At what vertical distance above the surface of the water is the diver
just then? (c) At what horizontal distance from the edge does the diver strike the water?

1 %% Reference: Question 4−37 from Fundamentals of Physics 10th Extended c2014

ed. by Halliday, Resnick and Walker
2
3 clear all
4 close all
5 clc
6
7 v_0 = 2.0;
8 x_0 = 0.0;
9 y_0 = 10.0;

46
10 t = 0.8;
11 g = 9.8;
12 x = x_0 + (v_0 * t)
13 y = y_0 − (1/2)*g*t*t
14 t_new = sqrt((2*y_0)/g)
15 R = v_0 * t_new

The outputs are as follows.

1 x =
2 1.6000
3 y =
4 6.8640
5 _
t new =
6 1.4286
7 R =
8 2.8571

47

View publication stats