PBC Lecture Notes Series in Mechanics: by Dr. Abhijit Kar Gupta, e-mail: kg.abhi@gmail.

com

Classical Mechanics:
Lecture-1 (degrees of freedom, constraints) To describe the motion of a single particle or a system of particles we have to know the coordinates. If N particles are moving freely in three dimensions, the motion is described by 3N space coordinates. But all the coordinates are not independent when there are constraints in the system. This means there are restrictions imposed on the coordinates; change in one coordinate affects other coordinates. The restrictions can be expressed in terms of equations or appropriate conditions.
Examples:

Let us think of a simple pendulum oscillating in a two dimensional plane ( x, y ):

X
l

( x, y)

Y Next, we consider a particle moving on the surface of a sphere. The three Cartesian coordinates satisfy: x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 . Thus in this case we have 2

The motion of the pendulum bob is such that we have x 2 y 2 l 2 . This equation is a relation between two coordinates and thus is a constraint. Therefore, the motion is described by a single independent coordinate.

independent coordinates. If we know x and y we can know z a 2 x 2 y 2 . But if we say, the particle can be anywhere inside the sphere, we have the following inequality condition: x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 . In this case the constraint is not in the form of an equation as before.

Degrees of freedom: Number of independent coordinates that are required to describe the motion of a system is called degrees of freedom. In a system of N -particles, if there are k -equations of constraints, we have n 3N k number of independent coordinates. n degrees of freedom. Configuration space: The motion of a system of N -particles having n -degrees of freedom can be imagined by the motion of a point in the space of n -coordinates ( n -dimensional hypothetical space). This space is called configuration space. Classification of constraints: Constraints can be of broadly two types. Holonomic Non-Holonomic

PBC Lecture Notes Series in Mechanics: by Dr. Abhijit Kar Gupta, e-mail: kg.abhi@gmail.com
Holonomic:

A Holonomic constraint is one that can be expressed in the form of an equation relating the coordinates: f ( x1 , y1 , z1 .., t ) 0 Example : simple pendulum, x 2 y 2 l 2 ; particle on a sphere, x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 . A general example of holonomic constraint is a rigid body where the distance 2 between any two points is fixed: (ri r j ) 2 cij .
Non-holonomic:

The constraint which can not be expressed in the form of an equation relating the coordinates is called non-holonomic. Example : The motion of a particle inside anywhere a sphere, x 2 y 2 z 2 a 2 .

The constraints are also classified into the following way: Scleronomic: where the constraints are independent of time. Rheonomic: where the constraints have explicit dependence on time. More examples on the types of constraints:

#1. An object sliding down an inclined plane:

Y

y tan x Type of constraint: Holonomic and Scleronomic

Constraint:

#2. An object sliding down an inclined plane where the inclination angle of the plane y varies with time: constraint, tan t , here t x Type of constraint: Holonomic and Rheonomic.

PBC Lecture Notes Series in Mechanics: by Dr. Abhijit Kar Gupta, e-mail: kg.abhi@gmail.com #3. A disc rolling down an inclined plane (not slipping):

s
X

Constraint (No slipping condition): ds d a dt dt Integrating, s a const., where s is the distance measured on the inclined plane. Type of constraint: Holonomic and Scleronomic

Note: Sometimes the constraints are written in terms of velocities and momentum etc. But they
can be integrated to find relations among coordinates.

#4. A disc rolling on the XY-plane:

Z

Condition of rolling: v a Also we can write,

x v cos ; y v sin Thus we have, dx a cos .d 0 (1) and dy a sin .d 0 ..(2). The above two differential equations for constraints are not exact differential. Thus there can not be any algebraic equation relating the coordinates. Therefore, the type of constrain is Non-holonomic.

#5. A sphere rolling over a larger sphere:

The constraint changes when the small sphere is detached from the larger sphere while rolling down. Thus we can not write an equation relating the coordinates for the entire process. The system is Nonholonomic. Since there is no explicit time dependence, the system is scleronomic.

PBC Lecture Notes Series in Mechanics: by Dr. Abhijit Kar Gupta, e-mail: kg.abhi@gmail.com

NOTE: Mind that for HOLONOMIC constraint, you have to have an equation relating the coordinates (more precisely, an algebraic equation). In case you have a differential equation and you know this can be integrated to convert into an algebraic one, you will still consider this to be holonomic. One particularly interesting example is a cylinder (or a disc or a sphere) rolling down an inclined plane. When you consider the relation between the linear speed with the radius and angle that is created due to rotation, you have a constraint of the kind as just said. Here it is assumed that the object is rolling down straight over the inclined plane. In case of a disc (or sphere) rolling on a horizontal plane, the object is rolling but its path is not restricted to a straight line always, it is wandering around over the plane making a curved path. So there is one additional coordinate (an angle) which is needed to describe the motion but that is not known. So if you write the differential equations here, one along x-axis and another along y-axis, that additional angle appears there. As the angles are unknown, the differential equations can not be integrated to make an algebraic equation in this case like before. So this is NON-HOLONOMIC.