Center of Mass for Two Uncoupled Particles

    • face Systems of Particles Lecture Notes

      face Lecture

      10 min.

      Systems of Particles Lecture Notes
      Central Forces 2023 (3 years)
    • assignment Mass-radius relationship for white dwarfs

      assignment Homework

      Mass-radius relationship for white dwarfs
      White dwarf Mass Density Energy Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

      Consider a white dwarf of mass \(M\) and radius \(R\). The dwarf consists of ionized hydrogen, thus a bunch of free electrons and protons, each of which are fermions. Let the electrons be degenerate but nonrelativistic; the protons are nondegenerate.

      1. Show that the order of magnitude of the gravitational self-energy is \(-\frac{GM^2}{R}\), where \(G\) is the gravitational constant. (If the mass density is constant within the sphere of radius \(R\), the exact potential energy is \(-\frac53\frac{GM^2}{R}\)).

      2. Show that the order of magnitude of the kinetic energy of the electrons in the ground state is \begin{align} \frac{\hbar^2N^{\frac53}}{mR^2} \approx \frac{\hbar^2M^{\frac53}}{mM_H^{\frac53}R^2} \end{align} where \(m\) is the mass of an electron and \(M_H\) is the mas of a proton.

      3. Show that if the gravitational and kinetic energies are of the same order of magnitude (as required by the virial theorem of mechanics), \(M^{\frac13}R \approx 10^{20} \text{g}^{\frac13}\text{cm}\).

      4. If the mass is equal to that of the Sun (\(2\times 10^{33}g\)), what is the density of the white dwarf?

      5. It is believed that pulsars are stars composed of a cold degenerate gas of neutrons (i.e. neutron stars). Show that for a neutron star \(M^{\frac13}R \approx 10^{17}\text{g}^{\frac13}\text{cm}\). What is the value of the radius for a neutron star with a mass equal to that of the Sun? Express the result in \(\text{km}\).

    • assignment Undo Formulas for Reduced Mass (Algebra)

      assignment Homework

      Undo Formulas for Reduced Mass (Algebra)
      Central Forces 2023 (2 years) For systems of particles, we used the formulas \begin{align} \vec{R}_{cm}&=\frac{1}{M}\left(m_1\vec{r}_1+m_2\vec{r}_2\right) \nonumber\\ \vec{r}&=\vec{r}_2-\vec{r}_1 \label{cm} \end{align} to switch from a rectangular coordinate system that is unrelated to the system to coordinates adapted to the center-of-mass. After you have solved the equations of motion in the center-of-mass coordinates, you may want to transform back to the original coordinate system. Find the inverse transformation, i.e. solve for: \begin{align} \vec{r}_1&=\\ \vec{r}_2&= \end{align} Hint: The system of equations (\ref{cm}) is linear, i.e. each variable is to the first power, even though the variables are vectors. In this case, you can use all of the methods you learned for solving systems of equations while keeping the variables vector valued, i.e. you can safely ignore the fact that the \(\vec{r}\)s are vectors while you are doing the algebra.
    • assignment Spin Fermi Estimate

      assignment Homework

      Spin Fermi Estimate
      Quantum Fundamentals 2023 (2 years) The following two problems ask you to make Fermi estimates. In a good Fermi estimate, you start from basic scientific facts you already know or quantities that you can reasonably estimate based on your life experiences and then reason your way to estimate a quantity that you would not be able guess. You may look up useful conversion factors or constants. Use words, pictures, and equations to explain your reasoning:
      1. Imagine that you send a pea-sized bead of silver through a Stern-Gerlach device oriented to measure the z-component of intrinsic spin. Estimate the total z-component of the intrinsic spin of the ball you would measure in the HIGHLY improbable case that every atom is spin up.
      2. Protons, neutrons, and electrons are all spin-1/2 particles. Give a (very crude) order of magnitude estimate of the number of these particles in your body.
    • assignment Heat capacity of vacuum

      assignment Homework

      Heat capacity of vacuum
      Heat capacity entropy Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020
      1. Solve for the heat capacity of a vacuum, given the above, and assuming that photons represent all the energy present in vacuum.
      2. Compare the heat capacity of vacuum at room temperature with the heat capacity of an equal volume of water.
    • assignment Calculation of $\frac{dT}{dp}$ for water

      assignment Homework

      Calculation of \(\frac{dT}{dp}\) for water
      Clausius-Clapeyron Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020 Calculate based on the Clausius-Clapeyron equation the value of \(\frac{dT}{dp}\) near \(p=1\text{atm}\) for the liquid-vapor equilibrium of water. The heat of vaporization at \(100^\circ\text{C}\) is \(2260\text{ J g}^{-1}\). Express the result in kelvin/atm.
    • assignment Surface temperature of the Earth

      assignment Homework

      Surface temperature of the Earth
      Temperature Radiation Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020 Calculate the temperature of the surface of the Earth on the assumption that as a black body in thermal equilibrium it reradiates as much thermal radiation as it receives from the Sun. Assume also that the surface of the Earth is a constant temperature over the day-night cycle. Use the sun's surface temperature \(T_{\odot}=5800\text{K}\); and the sun's radius \(R_{\odot}=7\times 10^{10}\text{cm}\); and the Earth-Sun distance of \(1.5\times 10^{13}\text{cm}\).
    • group Heat capacity of N$_2$

      group Small Group Activity

      30 min.

      Heat capacity of N2
      Contemporary Challenges 2021 (4 years)

      equipartition quantum energy levels

      Students sketch the temperature-dependent heat capacity of molecular nitrogen. They apply the equipartition theorem and compute the temperatures at which degrees of freedom “freeze out.”
    • assignment Power from the Ocean

      assignment Homework

      Power from the Ocean
      heat engine efficiency Energy and Entropy 2021 (2 years)

      It has been proposed to use the thermal gradient of the ocean to drive a heat engine. Suppose that at a certain location the water temperature is \(22^\circ\)C at the ocean surface and \(4^{o}\)C at the ocean floor.

      1. What is the maximum possible efficiency of an engine operating between these two temperatures?

      2. If the engine is to produce 1 GW of electrical power, what minimum volume of water must be processed every second? Note that the specific heat capacity of water \(c_p = 4.2\) Jg\(^{-1}\)K\(^{-1}\) and the density of water is 1 g cm\(^{-3}\), and both are roughly constant over this temperature range.

    • group Applying the equipartition theorem

      group Small Group Activity

      30 min.

      Applying the equipartition theorem
      Contemporary Challenges 2021 (4 years)

      equipartition theorem

      Students count the quadratic degrees of freedom of a few toy molecules to predict their internal energy at temperature \(T\).
  • Central Forces 2023 (3 years)

    Consider two particles of equal mass \(m\). The forces on the particles are \(\vec F_1=0\) and \(\vec F_2=F_0\hat{x}\). If the particles are initially at rest at the origin, find the position, velocity, and acceleration of the center of mass as functions of time. Solve this problem in two ways, with or without theorems about the center of mass motion. Write a short description comparing the two solutions.