The falling pencil: a "Divertimento" in four movements
Classical Physics
2021-01-15 v1 Popular Physics
Abstract
The dynamics of a simple pencil with a tip laid on a rough table and set free to fall under the action of gravity is scrutinized as a pedagogic case study. The full inquiry is anticipated by a review of three other simplified movements foreshadowing its main features. A few exact and general results about the sliding angles and the critical static coefficient of friction are established.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2101.05632,
title = {The falling pencil: a "Divertimento" in four movements},
author = {Nicola Cufaro Petroni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.05632},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
25 pages, 19 figures