Cone Gravity

A solid cone with volume mass density ρ \rho has the following description:

0 z 2 0 θ 2 π 0 r 1 z 2 x = r cos θ y = r sin θ 0 \leq z \leq 2 \\ 0 \leq \theta \leq 2 \pi \\ 0 \leq r \leq 1 - \frac{z}{2} \\ x = r \, \cos \theta \\ y = r \, \sin \theta

There is a point-particle of mass M M at position ( x M , y M , z M ) = ( 2 , 0 , 0 ) (x_M,y_M,z_M) = (2,0,0) . What is the magnitude of the gravitational force exerted by the cone on the particle?

Details and Assumptions:

  • ρ = 1 \rho = 1
  • M = 1 M = 1
  • The universal gravitational constant G = 1 G = 1


The answer is 0.504.

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1 solution

Karan Chatrath
Dec 27, 2019

Consider an arbitrary point in the cone:

R = r cos θ i ^ + r sin θ j ^ + z k ^ \vec{R} = r\cos{\theta} \hat{i} + r\sin{\theta} \hat{j} + z \hat{k}

The position vector of the point at which the force is to be computed is:

p = 2 i ^ + 0 j ^ + 0 k ^ \vec{p} = 2 \hat{i} + 0 \hat{j} + 0 \hat{k}

The calculation is done in cylindrical coordinates. The elementary force vector is:

d F = G ( ρ d V ) ( R p ) R p 3 = G ( ρ ( r d θ d r d z ) ) ( R p ) R p 3 d\vec{F} = \frac{G(\rho dV)\left(\vec{R}-\vec{p}\right)}{\lvert\vec{R}-\vec{p}\rvert ^3} = \frac{G\left(\rho \left(r d\theta dr dz\right)\right)\left(\vec{R}-\vec{p}\right)}{\lvert\vec{R}-\vec{p}\rvert ^3}

Plugging in expressions, simplifying and recognising the pattern of summation yields:

F x = 0 2 0 1 z 2 0 2 π r ( r cos ( θ ) 2 ) ( r 2 4 cos ( θ ) r + z 2 + 4 ) 3 / 2 d θ d r d z F_x = \int_{0}^{2} \int_{0}^{1 - \frac{z}{2}} \int_{0}^{2\pi} \frac{r\,\left(r\,\cos\left(\mathrm{\theta}\right)-2\right)}{{\left(r^2-4\,\cos\left(\mathrm{\theta}\right)\,r+z^2+4\right)}^{3/2}} d\theta dr dz

F y = 0 2 0 1 z 2 0 2 π r 2 sin ( θ ) ( r 2 4 cos ( θ ) r + z 2 + 4 ) 3 / 2 d θ d r d z F_y = \int_{0}^{2} \int_{0}^{1 - \frac{z}{2}} \int_{0}^{2\pi} \frac{r^2\,\sin\left(\mathrm{\theta}\right)}{{\left(r^2-4\,\cos\left(\mathrm{\theta}\right)\,r+z^2+4\right)}^{3/2}}d\theta dr dz

F z = 0 2 0 1 z 2 0 2 π r z ( r 2 4 cos ( θ ) r + z 2 + 4 ) 3 / 2 d θ d r d z F_z = \int_{0}^{2} \int_{0}^{1 - \frac{z}{2}} \int_{0}^{2\pi} \frac{r\,z}{{\left(r^2-4\,\cos\left(\mathrm{\theta}\right)\,r+z^2+4\right)}^{3/2}} d\theta dr dz

Each of these monsters is solved using Wolfram-Alpha to obtain a net magnitude of F 0.50253 \boxed{\mid \vec{F} \mid \approx 0.50253}

A code-based solution is as follows:

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clear all
clc

G    = 1;
rho  = 1;

% Point of interest:
rp   = [2;0;0];

% Initialisation of resultant force vector:
F = [0;0;0];

% Discretization of continuous space:
dz     = 1e-2;
dtheta = 1e-2;
dr     = 1e-2;

for z = 0:dz:2
    for r = 0:dr:(1 - 0.5*z)
        for theta = 0:dtheta:2*pi  

            % Element volume:
            dV = r*dr*dtheta*dz;

            % Arbitrary position vector (Cylindrical coordinates):
            R  = [r*cos(theta);r*sin(theta);z];

            % Newton's law of gravitation:
            dF = (G*rho*dV*(R-rp))/(norm(R-rp)^3);

            % Numerical integration
            F  = F + dF;
        end
    end
end

% Resultant force:
Answer = norm(F) % Standard vector 2-norm

% Answer = 0.511477965814259 (approximate)

@Karan Chatrath very interesting. monster very funny . how you make this type of expressions of Fx Fy Fz every time please sir help me.

A Former Brilliant Member - 1 year, 4 months ago

Log in to reply

Well, it involves the direct application of the first principles. In this case, the first principle is Newton's gravitational law. Apply the law for an element of the whole entity and the expressions for F x F_x , F y F_y and F z F_z will pop out naturally.

Karan Chatrath - 1 year, 4 months ago

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