A rectangular steel bar is pivoted as shown below. It is released from a position 1 away from vertical.

How long does it take to reach the horizontal position?

Assume a 1G gravitational field. Neglect friction. State any other assumptions you need to make. Answer:

I think the mass is not important, but we do need to know the length. There are two forces at play here, one is gravity pulling down and another is the force of the pivot point acting on the lower end of the rod. Since the rod rotates, a portion of the downward gravitational force is converted into rotational torque, effectively slowing down the rod's fall time. However, the top of the rod end will actually be traveling faster (angular velocity) than a normal free falling object. The angular acceleration, a = (3/2)(g/L) cos(rho). This assumes that the initial value of rho is 89 before release. However, we are solving for the point in time when the rod is horizontal or rho = 0. If we have the acceleration we can rearrange for t from v = a * t = {(3/2)(g/L)cos(rho)} t, v is the angular velocity. So, the initial angle is 1.571 radians. the time to fall should be equal to a final angle of 0 with the total arc = 1.571 radians. so when rho final = 0 = (1.571) - (1/2)(angular acceleration) t^2 Rearrange the equation and solve for t: -1.571 = (1/2)(angular acceleration) t^2 t = sqrt[(1.571*2)/(angular acceleration/2)] t = sqrt[3.142((2/3)(g/L)]

Probably screwed up something... The 89 arc makes this a little awkward. Answer 2:

I'd like to post my workings, but I can't get the hang of copying images, it seems overly complicated. But it's not hard to write the equation of motion. The neat bit is when you get d/dt as a function of , put d/dt = d/dt*d/d = *d/d. That integrates OK to give 2 = 3g/L*(cos 1 - cos ) but the next step to get t as a function of needs numerical integration. For various initial angles, I (with help of Mathcad) get time, sec 1 - 0.865 0.1 - 1.25 0.01 - 1.62 0.001 - 2.00 0.0001 - 2.38 0.00001 - 2.76 0.000001 - 3.06 For smaller angles, Mathcad overloads. But until that point, the increase in time with decreasing angle is surprisingly slow, so if anybody can fault the maths.......? BTW, for different lengths, time varies as L. On the subject of toilet seats, the ones that irritate me are when the seat hits the cistern before going overcentre, so it doesn't stay up at all. It's quite acrobatic holding it up with one foot while doing the biz!

Answer 3: 1)mglsin=Id/dt , =d/dt I(ml)/3; 2)mglsin=Id/dt ;3)mgcos+I=const ; 4)((k-mgcos)/I)=d/dt;5)t=(dt/d)d=1/(....)d;this last eq.must be calc.by numerical methods..no for saturday..

Answer 4:

Ok, I'm looking at the initial and final potential and rotational kinetic energies (PE and RKE). The initial PE is m g h, where h=half the length of the bar. Call the length of the bar L. Then PEi = m g (L/2).

The final PE is zero. The initial RKE is zero. The final RKEf = 1/2 (m (L2/3) f2) Equating RKEf to PEi and cancelling terms I get: 1/6 L2 f2 = g L/2; so f = (3 g/L) Then assuming the average is half the final f, and since the rotation is through =1/2 pi radians, and further assuming that L=0.4 m. t = I get t = (pi/2)/[0.5((39.80.4)], or t = 0.366 sec. Of course, I could be wrong, too. Likely at this late at night (~ 11 PM) I've made a mistake somewhere.