Pushing on a bar at one End
Most recent answer: 12/15/2014
- Simon Bagley (age 53)
Stockport, Cheshire, UK
Hello Simon,
This is a cute little problem. I gave up trying to solve the thing analytically so decided to code it up using MATLAB. Here is a plot showing the evolution of Vx vs Vy. Asymptotically, the bar bar spins faster and faster and moves off at a 450 angle with a more or less constant velocity.
LeeH
One way to get a qualitative feel is to think first of the rotations. These are simple because there's a constant torque around the center of mass. So the rotations keep speeding up, with angular speed growing linearly in time. That's why, after a while, the velocity becomes nearly constant. The direction of the applied force is spinning around so quickly that it nearly averages zero. /Mike W.
(published on 12/15/2014)