A Rod Sliding in a Semicircular Well

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This Demonstration shows how a rod of length moves sliding down the side of a semicircular well of radius . At the beginning one end of the rod is held at the edge of the well with the other in contact with the side of the well. Once the system is released, the rod slides down the well under the influence of gravity. Assume there is no friction acting between the points of contact of the rod and the well.

Contributed by: Sarah Lichtblau (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA


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Developed from the teaching materials of Thomas Peacock and David Gossard for Course 2.003 in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

The equation of motion of the rod is .



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