Related papers: Brachistochrones With Loose Ends
We consider the problem of finding paths of shortest transit time between two points (popularly known as Brachistochrone) for cylinders with off-centered center of mass, rolling down without slip, subject solely to the force of gravity.…
The classic brachistrochrone problem is standard material in intermediate mechanics. Many variations exist including some accessible to introductory students. While a quantitative solution isn't feasible in introductory classes, qualitative…
The Brachistochrone problem, which describes the curve that carries a particle under gravity in a vertical plane from one height to another in the shortest time, is one of the most famous studies in classical physics. There is a similar…
We analyze the motion of a particle in the gravity field along a family of differentiable curves taking into account the Coulomb friction forces. A parametric equation of the optimal curves is given that generalizes the cycloid one in this…
The brachistochrone, the curve of fastest descent under gravity, is a cycloid when friction is absent. Underwater, however, buoyancy, viscous drag, and the added mass of entrained fluid fundamentally alter the problem. We formulate and…
Consider a frictionless surface S in a gravitational field that need not be uniform. Given two points A and B on S, what curve is traced out by a particle that starts at A and reaches B in the shortest time? This paper considers this…
If A and B are two points in the plane, with B lower and to the right of A, then we may consider the trajectory of an object travelling from A to B under the influence of gravity. The search for the trajectory minimising the time taken by…
We consider different generalizations of the Brachistochrone Problem in the context of fundamental concepts of classical mechanics. The correct statement for the Brachistochrone problem for nonholonomic systems is proposed. It is shown that…
We show a method to solve the problem of the brachistochrone as well as other variational problems with the help of the soap films that are formed between two suitable surfaces. We also show the interesting connection between some…
We discuss a fluid dynamic variant of the classical Bernoulli's brachistochrone problem. The classical brachistochrone for a non-dissipative particle is governed by maximization of the particle's kinetic energy resulting in a cycloid. We…
If a variational problem comes with no boundary conditions prescribed beforehand, and yet these arise as a consequence of the variation process itself, we speak of a free boundary values variational problem. Such is, for instance, the…
We solve the brachistochrone problem for a particle travelling through a spherical mass distribution of uniform density. We examine the connection between this problem and the popular "gravity elevator" result. The solution is compared to…
The brachistochrone problem can be solved either by variational calculus or by a skillful application of the Snellius' law of refraction. This suggests the question whether also other variational problems can be solved by an analogue of the…
Minimum-time quantum control protocols can be obtained from the quantum brachistochrone formalism [Carlini, Hosoya, Koike, and Okudaira, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 06053, (2006)]. We point out that the original treatment implicitly applied the…
If a particle has to fall first vertically 1 m from A and then move horizontally 1 m to B, it takes a time $t(=\tau_1+\tau_2=\tau_3=3/\sqrt{2g})=0.67$ s. Under gravity and without friction, if it sides down on a linear track inclined at…
Rocking rigid bodies appear in several shapes in everyday life: As furniture like rocking chairs and rocking cradles or as toys like rocking horses or tilting dolls. The familiar rocking motion of these objects, a non-linear combination of…
Problems involving rolling without slipping or no sideways skidding, to name a few, introduce velocity-dependent constraints that can be efficiently treated by the method of Lagrange multipliers in the Lagrangian formulation of the…
Here, I construct an elegant frictional brachistochrone for a mass point motion of a granular material with the Coulomb frictional energy dissipation that inherently includes the evolving path curvature. The simple model reveals several…
Motions of a material point along a set of parabolas are studied, taking into account the forces of Coulomb friction. The obtained results are compared with similar motions along the cycloid. The analysis is carried out using numerical…
This paper studies brachistochrone trajectories. Four rules are formulated as sufficient conditions. Two rules apply for a general conservative force. Two rules apply for a central force. A central force allows wire replacement. The wire is…