Static deformation of heavy spring due to gravity and centrifugal force
Classical Physics
2015-05-18 v1 Popular Physics
Abstract
The static equilibrium deformation of a heavy spring due to its own weight is calculated for two cases. First for a spring hanging in a constant gravitational field, then for a spring which is at rest in a rotating system where it is stretched by the centrifugal force. Two different models are considered. First a discrete model assuming a finite number of point masses connected by springs of negligible weight. Then the continuum limit of this model. In the second case the differential equation for the deformation is obtained by demanding that the potential energy is minimized. In this way a simple application of the variational calculus is obtained.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1001.2339,
title = {Static deformation of heavy spring due to gravity and centrifugal force},
author = {Hanno Essen and Arne Nordmark},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1001.2339},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
11 pages, 2 figures