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TP1HW Dimanalysis-Phasespace

This document provides an overview of problems for Theoretical Physics I, including problems related to: 1) Estimating the distance between Earth and the Sun based on the speed of light and calculating Earth's orbital period. 2) Dimensional analysis to describe the oscillatory motion of a particle attached to a spring in terms of characteristic length and time scales. 3) Estimating the conversion factor between Joules and Calories based on the power output of an electric kettle. 4) Calculating wave speed based on wavelength and gravity, and estimating the top speed of a yacht based on its hull speed.

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Sandro Kobulia
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31 views3 pages

TP1HW Dimanalysis-Phasespace

This document provides an overview of problems for Theoretical Physics I, including problems related to: 1) Estimating the distance between Earth and the Sun based on the speed of light and calculating Earth's orbital period. 2) Dimensional analysis to describe the oscillatory motion of a particle attached to a spring in terms of characteristic length and time scales. 3) Estimating the conversion factor between Joules and Calories based on the power output of an electric kettle. 4) Calculating wave speed based on wavelength and gravity, and estimating the top speed of a yacht based on its hull speed.

Uploaded by

Sandro Kobulia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Theoretical Physics I.

Theoretical Mechanics I 20 October 2022


IPSP Leipzig Prof. Dr. Jürgen Vollmer

2. Basic Notions and Dimensional Analysis


Chapter 1 of my lecture notes provides the background to solve the following exercises.
Your solution to the problems 2.1–2.4 should uploaded
to your Moodle account
as a PDF-file
by Tuesday, Oct 25, 12:00 (with a grace time till the start of the seminars)
The parts marked by ? are suggestions for further exploration that will be followed
up in the seminars. These are bonus problems that need not be submitted and that
will not be graded. Problems marked by  might take some extra effort to solve.
They should always be considered as Bonus problems.

Problems
Problem 2.1. Earth orbit around the Sun

a) Light travels with a speed of c ≈ 3 × 108 m/s. It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds
to travel from Sun to Earth. What is the distance D of Earth and Sun in meters?
Why is it admissible for this estimate to assume that the light takes 500 seconds
for the trip?

b) The period, T , of the trajectory of the Earth around the Sun depends on D,
on the mass M = 2 × 1030 kg of the Sun, and on the gravitational constant
G = 6.7 × 10−11 m3 /kg s2 . Estimate, based on this information, how long it
takes for the Earth to travel once around the Sun.
Hint: Which combination of D, M , and G has a unit of seconds?

c) Express your estimate in terms of years. The estimate of (b) is of order one,
but still off by a considerable factor. Do you recognize the numerical value of
this factor?

d) Upon discussing the trajectory x(t) of planets around the Sun later on in this
course, we will introduce dimensionless positions of the planets ξ(t) = x(t)/L =
(x1 (t)/L, x2 (t)/L, x3 (t)/L). What would be L in this definition?

1
Problem 2.2. Oscillation period of a particle attached to a spring
In a gravitational field with acceleration gMoon = 1.6 m/s2 a particle of mass M =
100 g is hanging at a spring with spring constant k = 1.6 kg/s2 . It oscillates with
a frequency ω when it is slightly pulled downwards and released. We describe the
oscillation by the distance x(t) from its rest position.

a) Construct a length scale L and a time scale T based on the parameters gMoon ,
M , and k of the problem. This provides a dimensionless distance ξ(t) = x(t)/L,
and the associated dimensionless velocity ζ(t) = ẋ(t) T /L.

b) Provide an order-of-magnitude guess of the oscillation frequency ω.

c) For a Hookian spring the quantity E = ξ 2 (t/T ) + ζ 2 (t/T ) is a constant number


for the motion of the particle: E does not depend on the dimensionless time
t/T even though ξ(t/T ) and ζ(t/T ) are both time dependent.
What does this tell about the shape of trajectories in phase space?
Sketch a phase-space portrait of the motion.

? d) How does the phase-space portrait of the particle attached to a string differ
from the one of a pendulum that we discussed in class?
In experiments one observes that E is only constant for small amplitude oscillations.
What does this mean in terms of the trajectories in phase space?
What happens for large amplitudes?

Problem 2.3. Conversion from Joule to Calories


A Calorie (cal) is defined as the heat energy needed to increase the temperature of
1 g of water by 1 K, and an electric kettle typically is heating water with a power of
P = 1 kW.
Hint: Power refers to the energy released per unit time, i.e., J s−1 in SI units.

a) Check out the power of your kettle and how long it takes to boil 1 l of water.
Estimate based on this information the conversion factor between Joule (J) and
calories.

? b) Look up the literature value for the factor and compare it to your estimate.
What might be the reasons for the discrepancy?

2
Problem 2.4. Water waves
The speed of waves on the ocean depends only on their wave length L and the
gravitational acceleration g ' 10 m/s2 .

a) How does the speed vw of the waves depend on L and g?

b) Unless it is surfing, the speed of a yacht is limited by its hull speed, i.e. the
speed of a wave with wave length identical to the length of the yacht. Estimate
the top speed of a 30 ft yacht.
Hint: 1 ft = 304.8 × 10−3 m.

c) Often the conversion of feet into meters is approximated by a factor of 7/23,


i.e. by assuming that 7 m = 23 ft. Is that a reasonable approximation?

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