PHYS 252

Always hand in:
  1. written solutions to any questions
  2. a paper print-out of well-commented code. Include a multiline comment at the top of your code with (i) the assignment name, (ii) your name, and (iii) the date you handed in all elements of the assignment
  3. paper print-out of output (graph or text)
  4. also, e-mail me (y-lithwick@northwestern.edu) the code with your name and the exercise number in the subject line

Assignment #7
[5pts, due 2pm, April 19]

The equation of motion for the physical pendulum is

You will numerically integrate this equation for a range of different parameters. You may use any integration algorithm and any stepsize, as long as your solution has converged sufficiently.
There are essentially 6 separate parameters:
g/l, q, FD, ΩD, the initial angle θ0 and the initial angular speed

We will be doing cases 1-3 (below) in class. For the other cases (4-6), produce two plots

  1. One plot will show θ(t) , i.e., θ on the y-axis vs. t on the x-axis. On the same plot, show a number of solutions with different parameters that illustrate the basic features of the motion for each case. If you feel the plot is getting too messy, you can plot some of the trajectories on separate graphs.
  2. The second plot will be a phase-space plot, i.e. dθ/dt on the y-axis vs. θ on the x-axis.
I will leave it up to you to choose which and how many trajectories to show, but they should show the different kinds of motion possible. For each case, describe in words the basic features of the motion. Your description can be as short as a sentence or two. Also, write the values of the parameters you chose.

The cases are as follows