Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Lagrangian Mechanics And The Motion Of A T-Handle, Eric Maurer

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This paper begins by deriving the equations of motion for the Lagrangian formulation of mechanics. Lagrangian mechanics describes the same thing as the traditional Newtonian mechanics (which is what is taught in most undergrad physics classes), but rather than model the system through forces, it models the system through energy. Energy is conserved in a system, which allows the Lagrangian formulation to model certain types of systems in a more efficient way than the Newtonian formulation.

Next, the paper explores rigid body motion, specifically looking at the motion of the angular momentum. The goal of this part is to explain …