ABSTRACT
PROBLEMS SOLVED BY MEANS OF THE LAGRANGIAN FORMALISM
1. Atwood machine
The Atwood’s machine was invented in 1784 by Rev. George Atwood in order to verify the mechanical laws of motion with constant acceleration. It essentially consists of two bodies of masses m1 and m2, connected by an inextensible massless string of length l over an ideal massless pulley of radius r and moment of inertia I (see Fig.VI.1). Neglecting friction between the string and the pulley, find the differential equation of motion of the system.
