conservative forces

Which of the following forces are conservative in nature?

a. F = a\hat{i} + b\hat{j}

b. F= ax\hat{i} + by\hat{j} \,\,\, (a\ne b)

c. F= xy\hat{i}

d. F= x{^2}y\hat{i} + 2xy^{2}\hat{j}

21 Answers

11
Khyati ·

What is nabla?

@ Vivek, you started with calculas also?

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

@ Ashis: i read up wiki....and understood this... i am writing that here:

A vector field is said to be conservative if there exists a scalar field such that

Here denotes the gradient of . When the above equation holds, is called a scalar potential for .

The fundamental theorem of vector calculus states that any vector field can be expressed as the sum of a conservative vector field and a solenoidal field.

well...that is what i said...

here is the scalar potential at a point

is the field

thus,

(any path)P∫ν.dx=φ(x1) - φ(x2)

i.e.

x is not the cartesian x coordinate but gives position of particle....

and this is what i was telling for so long!!!! :P

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

@Asish.. So what is the final solution of yours?

106
Asish Mahapatra ·

Euclid is correct ... (just go look up curl in wiki) ..

you can simply apply what he has written and if it indeed turns out to be zero then the force is conservative

23
qwerty ·

then subhomoy why did u disagree at the first place [3] [3]

11
Khyati ·

Can't you see I wrote your name there, but kya kare tum apni rone ki aadat se kabhi baaz

nahi aaoge.:P :P

What is ROFL?

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

Tab toh mera kaam aasan ho gaya. ROFL!

Nai Nai! Seriously... It takes much long time to complete. But If you are talking about genie Subho then I agree with you!! :P

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

lol

11
Khyati ·

@ Vivek, I know tumhe kisme kitna kya nahi pata hai.:P :P

:)

11
Khyati ·

Thanks Vivek.

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

'Nabla' is an operator.

Like + adds two things, It is also an operator which has many uses.

Extracts from Wikipedia

"When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes its standard derivative as defined in calculus. When applied to a field (a function defined on a multi-dimensional domain), del may denote the gradient (slope) of a scalar field, the divergence of a vector field, or the curl (rotational) of a vector field, depending on the way it is applied."

@khyati.. Calculus.. Woh kya hota hai. Mujhe abi kuch nai pata usme. :)

23
qwerty ·

a , b are conservative ,
c is not conservative

see basic idea is

if u can find ∫Fxdx + ∫Fydy without using the relation between x and y , then the force F is conservative

eg: F = xy2i + yx2j

then ∫Fxdx + ∫Fydy = ∫ xy2dx+∫yx2dy
= ∫d(x2y2)/2 = x2y2/2

there was no need of any relation between x and y , hence it is conservative

try same for option d

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

Ohhk!

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

no....the concept euclid said is not-at-all correct!!

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

Is it really required here?

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

well the nabla can be found out by partial differentiation techniques..

in partial differentiation, there are more than one independent variables like x y and z and when we differentiate w.r.t. x we consider the other variables to be constant...

71
Vivek @ Born this Way ·

How to Evaluate 'Nabla'??

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

well what i say and what u say imply the same

E.dl if u look carefully can be used as a measure of potential at that point...

and now....

If w.r.t. any path taken ∫E.dl is same for any two points then, we can assume a fixed value of potential assigned to each point and the potential difference between the two points is the difference between the two points....irrespective to the path...

so E.dl summation over a closed path gives the difference between the same value which is zero....

and @ Euclid... i do not think that u are quite right...

23
qwerty ·

@ subhomoy

wat i hav said is correct

check the basics, wat u r telling by stating ∫E.dl=0 in a closed path , is not a sufficient condition .

When work done by a force is " independent of the path taken " then it is called as a conservative one .

When writing ∫E.dl viz ∫Exdx+∫Eydy

if u get the integral without knowing the relation between x and y , it simply means that the work done is independent of the path taken .

but if u reqd the relation between x and y , it means that work done IS NOT independent of the path taken

1
Euclid ·

If \vec{\bigtriangledown } \times \vec{F} = \vec{0}, then the force is said to be CONSERVATIVE.......

where \vec{\bigtriangledown } \rightarrow differential operator, given by

\bigtriangledown = (\frac{\delta }{\delta x}\hat{i}+ \frac{\delta }{\delta y}\hat{j}+ \frac{\delta }{\delta z}\hat{k})

49
Subhomoy Bakshi ·

actually no....

a conservative field is given by

summation of (field.dl) = 0

just apply that taking any arbitrary closed loop like circle square triangle and that solves the problem....

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