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general rule that the area oŸ a zone of a sphere is proportional to its axial width.)
'Therefore the potential energy due to đn is
đW =— Gm đm " Gm'2maụu da
But we see that
r? =g2+(R—z)°=2++?+ R—2Ra
=a?+R”—2R+.
2rdr = —2Rd+z
dy — dĩ
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'Therefore,
Gm'2ma_u đr
dW = P ›
and so , Rịca
W- Gm2malu J dự
t Tì+a
Œmm'2mxaju 2 Œm(4ma?)
= R TT R
= R. (13.18)
Thus, for a thin spherical shell, the potential energy of a mass ?m/, external to
the shell, is the same as though the mass of the shell were concentrated at its
center. The earth can be imagined as a series of spherical shells, each one of
which contributes an energy which depends only on its mass and the distance
from its center to the particle; adding them all together we get the £o‡œl mmass,
and therefore the earth acts as though all the material were at the centerl
But notice what happens if our point is on the ?ws¿de of the shell. Making
the same calculation, but with ? on the inside, we still get the diference of the
©wo r's, but now in the form a— jÈ— (œ-+ R) = —2, or minus twice the distance
from the center. In other words, W comes out to be W = —Œmmrn/a, which is
¿ndependen‡t of F and independent of position, ¡.e., the same energy no matter
tohere we are inside. 'Pherefore no force; no work is done when we move about
inside. Tf the potential energy is the same no matter where an object is placed
inside the sphere, there can be no force on it. So there is no force inside, there 1s
only a force outside, and the force outside is the same as though the mass were
all at the center.
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MVor'k (ra ốổl IPo£ortfterl Froorggg, (c©ortecltrsrom)
14-1 Work
In the preceding chapter we have presented a great many new ideas and
results that play a central role in physics. 'These ideas are so important that 1t
seems worth while to devote a whole chapter to a closer examination of them.
In the present chapter we shall not repeat the “proofs” or the specifc tricks by
which the results were obtained, but shall concentrate instead upon a discussion
of the ideas themselves.
In learning any subject of a technical nature where mathematics plays a role,
one is confronted with the task of understanding and storing away in the memory
a huge body of facts and ideas, held together by certain relationships which can
be “proved” or “shown” to exist between them. It is easy to confuse the proof
1tself with the relationship which it establishes. Clearly, the important thing
to learn and to remember is the relationship, not the proof. In any particular
circumstance we can either say “it can be shown that” such and such is true, or
we can show it. In almost all cases, the particular proof that is used is concocted,
ñirst of all, in such form that it can be written quickly and easily on the chalkboard
or on paper, and so that it will be as smooth-looking as possible. Consequently,
the proof may look deceptively simple, when in fact, the author might have
worked for hours trying diferent ways of calculating the same thing until he has
found the neatest way, so as to be able to show that it can be shown in the
shortest amount of timel 'The thing to be remembered, when seeing a proof, is
not the proof itself, but rather that it can be shoun that such and such is true.
Of course, if the proof involves some mmathematical procedures or “tricks” that
one has not seen before, attention should be given not to the trick exactly, but
to the mathematical idea. involved.
Tt is certain that in all the demonstrations that are made in a course such
as this, not one has been remembered from the time when the author studied
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freshman physics. Quite the contrary: he merely remembers that such and such
1s true, and to explain how it can be shown he invents a demonstration at the
mmoment ¡% is needed. Anyone who has really learned a subject should be able
to follow a similar procedure, but it is no use remermbering the proofs. 'That is
why, in this chapter, we shall avoid the proofs of the various statements made
previously, and merely sumnmarize the results.
The frst idea that has to be digested is t0ork dơne bụ a force. The physical
word “work” is not the word in the ordinary sense of “Workers of the world
unitel,” but is a different idea. Physical work is expressed as ƒ F': ds, called “the
line integral of P' dot đs,” which means that if the force, for instance, is In one
direction and the object on which the force is working is displaced in a certain
direction, then omlu the component oƒ force ïn the dicction oƒ the displacement
does any work. If, for instance, the force were constant and the displacement
were a finite distance As, then the work done in moving the object through that
distance is only the component of force along As times Az. The rule is “force
times distance,” but we really mean only the component of force in the direction
of the displacement tỉimes As or, equivalently, the component of displacement in
the direction of force times #'. It is evident that no work whatsoever is done by
a force which is at right angles to the displacement.
Now 1ƒ the vector displacement As is resolved into components, in other
words, if the actual displacement is As and we want %o consider i% efectively
as a component of displacement Az in the z-direction, A# ïn the -direction,
and Az in the z-direction, then the work done in carrying an object from one
place to another can be calculated in three parts, by calculating the work done
along z, along , and along z. The work done in goïing along # involves only that
component of force, namely #„, and so on, so the work is F„ Az + tụ Au+ ty Az.
'When the force is not constant, and we have a complicated curved motion, then
we must resolve the path into a lot of little As”s, add the work done in carrying
the object along each As, and take the limit as As goes to zero. Thịs is the
meaning of the “line integral.”
Everything we have just said is contained in the formula W = Ƒ#'- ds. It
is all very well to say that it is a marvelous formula, but it is another thing to
understand what it means, or what some of the consequences are.
The word “work” in physics has a meaning so diferent from that of the word
as it is used in ordinary circumstances that it must be observed carefully that
there are some peculiar circumstances in which it appears not to be the same.