- D A System Consists Of Two Particles And Is Subject To Internal And External Forces Following Standard Notation The 1 (83.3 KiB) Viewed 25 times
(d) A system consists of two particles and is subject to internal and external forces. Following standard notation, the total mechanical energy for this system is given by E = T₁+T₂ + U₁2 + U₁+U₂. (1) (i) Briefly explain what each of the terms in this equation represents. (ii) What conditions must a force satisfy to be described by a potential? (iii) What physical quantity does -V₁U12 represent? (Here V₁ is the gradient operator with respect to the coordinates of particle 1). (iv) Under what conditions will the total mechanical energy be conserved? (v) Using similar notation write out the expression for the total mechanical energy for the case of 3 particles subject to internal and external forces.