Atwood and Poggendorff: an insightful analogy

Ricardo Coelho; Paulo Borges; Ricardo Avelar Sotomaior Karam

doi:10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003

Atwood and Poggendorff: an insightful analogy

Ricardo Coelho, Paulo Borges, Ricardo Avelar Sotomaior Karam

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	European Journal of Physics
Volume	37
Issue number	6
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Number of pages	13
ISSN	0143-0807
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003
Publication status	Published - 22 Sept 2016

Access to Document

10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003

Cite this

@article{454fc9561a9b4a239d47e703bb084982,

title = "Atwood and Poggendorff: an insightful analogy",

abstract = "Atwood{\textquoteright}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{\textquoteright} comprehension of Newton{\textquoteright}s laws and equilibrium.",

author = "Ricardo Coelho and Paulo Borges and {Avelar Sotomaior Karam}, Ricardo",

year = "2016",

month = sep,

day = "22",

doi = "10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/065003",

language = "English",

volume = "37",

pages = "1--13",

journal = "European Journal of Physics",

issn = "0143-0807",

publisher = "Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd",

number = "6",

}

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 -

Atwood and Poggendorff: an insightful analogy

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this