Motion of a Dumbbell Acted on by Constant Forces
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A rod of negligible mass and varying length connects two masses. Two equal and constant forces act on the masses in opposite directions. The forces remain perpendicular to the rod even as the rod spins.
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 is .
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