TY - JOUR
T1 - Atwood and Poggendorff: an insightful analogy
AU - Coelho, Ricardo
AU - Borges, Paulo
AU - Avelar Sotomaior Karam, Ricardo
PY - 2016/9/22
Y1 - 2016/9/22
N2 - Atwood’s treatise, in which the Atwood machine appears, was published in 1784. About 70 years later, Poggendorff showed experimentally that the weight of an Atwood machine is reduced when it is brought to motion. In the present paper, a twofold connection between this experiment and the Atwood machine is established. Firstly, if the Poggendorff apparatus is taken as an ideal one, the equations of motion of the apparatus coincide with the equations of motion of the compound Atwood machine. Secondly, if the Poggendorff apparatus, which works as a lever, is rebalanced, the equations of this equi- librium provide us with the solution for a compound Atwood machine with the same bodies. This analogy is pedagogically useful because it illustrates a common strategy to transform a dynamic in a static situation improving stu- dents’ comprehension of Newton’s laws and equilibrium.
AB - Atwood’s treatise, in which the Atwood machine appears, was published in 1784. About 70 years later, Poggendorff showed experimentally that the weight of an Atwood machine is reduced when it is brought to motion. In the present paper, a twofold connection between this experiment and the Atwood machine is established. Firstly, if the Poggendorff apparatus is taken as an ideal one, the equations of motion of the apparatus coincide with the equations of motion of the compound Atwood machine. Secondly, if the Poggendorff apparatus, which works as a lever, is rebalanced, the equations of this equi- librium provide us with the solution for a compound Atwood machine with the same bodies. This analogy is pedagogically useful because it illustrates a common strategy to transform a dynamic in a static situation improving stu- dents’ comprehension of Newton’s laws and equilibrium.
UR - http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003?fromSearchPage=true
U2 - 10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003
DO - 10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0143-0807
VL - 37
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - European Journal of Physics
JF - European Journal of Physics
IS - 6
ER -