A homogeneous ring Iays horizonlaIIy on lvo

idenlicaI araIIeI raiIs. The firsl raiI moves araIIeI

lo ilseIf, vilh a conslanl seed t, lhe second raiI is
al resl. The anguIar dislance belveen lhe ring-raiI
conlacl oinls, as seen from lhe cenlre of lhe ring,
is 2o for lhe firsl raiI, and 2p for lhe second raiI,
see figure. Assuming lhal o << 1 and p/3, find
lhe seed of lhe cenlre of lhe ring.

Prnb!cm 7
2o 2
1
s
l

r
a
i
I
2
n
d

r
a
i
I
t
Hints aItcr 1st wcck: This robIem can be soIved by using a brule force aroach, i.e. vriling dovn lvo equalions for lvo
unknovn angIes. Hovever, lhe soIulion can be significanlIy simIified once a usefuI geomelricaI facl is noliced: lhen, il is
enough lo vrile dovn onIy one equalion for one unknovn quanlily.
Hints aItcr 2nd wcck: TyicaIIy in lhe case of slalic's robIems, il is convenienl lo slarl vilh a lorque baIance, because lhe
origin for lhe baIance equalion can be chosen in such a vay lhal arms of al Ieasl lvo forces become equaI lo zero, aIso, you
are free lo choose, vhich forces you vanl lo disaear from your lorque baIance (vhich are lhe Ieasl desirabIe). In
arlicuIar, if lhere are onIy lhree forces aIied lo a rigid body al an equiIibrium, lhe Iines aIong vhich lhese forces are
aIied inlersecl aIvays in a singIe oinl. Here, in order lo derive lhe geomelricaI facl menlioned in lhe revious hinl,
sludy lhe lorque baIance vilh resecl lo lhe inlerseclion oinl of lhe Iines aIong vhich lvo forces (e.g. lhe friclion forces
due lo lhe 1sl raiI) are aIied.
Hints aItcr 3rd wcck: Here is lhe lo-do-Iisl for lhe IrobIem 7. Lel lhe x-axis be aIong lhe raiIs,
y-axis lhe olher horizonlaI axis, and z lhe verlicaI one. Do nol ul o 0, inslead negIecl lerms vhich are much
smaIIer lhan o
2
(e.g. using cos o = 1 o
2
/2). Iind lhe magniludes of lhe friclion forces using lhe lorque baIance in q-z-
Iane. Sludy lhe lorque baIance of lvo friclion forces in x-q-Iane (e.g. lhose due lo lhe 1
sl
raiI ) vilh resecl lo lhe
inlerseclion oinl P of lhe Iines defined by lhe remaining lvo friclion forces. As a resuIl, you shouId be abIe lo nolice lhal
lhe osilion of lhe oinl P defines lhe direclions of aII lhe four friclion forces. Wrile lhe x-direclionaI force baIance equalion
of lhe friclion forces using lhe dislance I of lhe oinl P from lhe 1
sl
raiI as a singIe unknovn quanlily, soIve lhe equalion
using lhe aroximalion o << 1 (be carefuI: I has lhe same order of smaIIness as o
2
!). Once you knov I, lhe ring's seed
can be easiIy found by finding firsl lhe dislances belveen lhe inslanlaneous rolalions cenlres of lhe ring in lhe reference
frames of lhe 1
sl
and of lhe 2
nd
raiI, and lhe cenlre of lhe ring. IinaIIy nole lhal numericaIIy aroximale ansver can be
found using ureIy geomelricaI conslruclions, e.g. vilh lhe heI of GeoGebra aIel (sliII, anaIylicaI exacl resuIl is much
more referred).
Rcsu!ts nI thc 7th prnb!cm. Cnrrcct sn!utinns havc bccn submittcd by
(nrdcrcd accnrding tn thc arriva! timc):
1 Szabo AlliIa (Hungary) 3.619859205 (su|niiic! !uring inc 1si ucck)
2 OIiver Idlmair (Auslria) 3.674123988 (su|niiic! !uring inc 2n! ucck)
3 Dan-Crislian Andronic (Romania) 1.697722338 (su|niiic! !uring inc 4in ucck)
4 Cyuan-Han Chang (Taivan) 1.543383943
5 Kurenkov MikhaiI (Russia) 1.9487171
6 Lars DehIves (Germany) 1.61051
7 Nguyen Ho Nam (Vielnam) 0.8433216
8 Madhivanan IIango (Uniled Kingdom) 1.4641
9 }ordan }ordanov (uIgaria) 1.21
10 Vu Vil Linh (Vielnam) 0.88
11 Ifim Mazhnik (Russia) 1
12 Qu Xinyi (Singaore) 0.64
13 Daumanlas KavoIis (Lilhunia) 1
14 }akub Mrozek (IoIand) 1
15 }akub Safin (SIovakia) 0.9
16 }aemo Lim (Korea) 0.576
17 IsmaeI SaIvador Mendoza Serrano (Mexico) 0.9
18 SamueI osch (Croalia) 0.9
19 David Slein (Germany) 0.9


This lime, lhe besl-soIulion-avards go lo lhe lvo firsl soIulions - nol because lhese vere reaIIy
lhe besl, bul because aII lhe olher soIulions arrived afler very delaiIed hinls, al vhich oinl
soIving became much easier lhan before. MeanvhiIe, lhe firsl hinl vas so sublIe lhal for lhe
second veek, lhe decrease of difficuIly vas negIigibIe. The soIulion of 5zabn Atti!a is a brule-
force one, and lhe soIulion of O!ivcr Edtmair is based on geomelric observalions, hence lhe
avard is divided in roorlions 1:2 in favour of OIiver.
We slarl vilh lhe inlroduclory aragrahs of lhe soIulion of Madhivanan E!angn, vhich
rovides lhe simIesl roof lhal aII lhe four forces oinl lovards lhe same oinl.

l flrsL show Lhe dlagram above and lnLroduce Lhe new quanLlLles as labelled. noLlce LhaL Lhe veloclLy
vecLors shown are from Lhe frame of reference of Lhe rall, on whlch Lhe polnLs are slLuaLed on and LhaL
Lhe decomposlLlon of vecLors t
1
and t
2
are also shown on Lhe dlagram. AddlLlonally, label Lhe radlus of
Lhe rlng as |. Label Lhe x axls parallel and ln Lhe dlrecLlon of Lhe veloclLy of Lhe movlng rall, Lhe z axes
comes sLralghL ouL of Lhe page and Lhen label Lhe q axls Lo follow a rlghL hand coordlnaLe sysLem. Slnce
Lhe rlng ls ln equlllbrlum all forces and all Lorques abouL any polnL musL sum Lo 0. 1he frlcLlonal forces
by deflnlLlon are ln opposlLe dlrecLlons Lo Lhe veloclLy vecLors and are proporLlonal Lo Lhe normal
reacLlon force aL LhaL polnL. LeL Lhe normal reacLlons on Lhe movlng rall be N
1
and Lhe reacLlons on Lhe
sLaLlonary ralls be N
2
. 8y conslderlng Lorques ln Lhe q-z plane abouL Lhe cenLer of Lhe rlng, lL ls clear Lo
see LhaL N
1
|coso N
2
|sino, LhaL ls N
1
coso N
2
cosp. 1hls means LhaL |
1
coso |
2
cosp. now
conslder Lhe Lorques abouL polnL P, Lhe lnLersecLlon of |
1
and |
2
: we know LhaL Lhey musL sum Lo 0.
noLlce LhaL Lhe Lwo forces from Lhe flrsL rall are [usL reflecLlons of each oLher ln Lhe llne deflned by Lhe
rall. uue Lhls symmeLry, Lhe Lwo Lorques abouL P wlll clearly have Lhe same slgn, so Lhe only way LhaL
Lhese Lwo Lorques can have a LoLal sum of 0 ls lf each ls 0: Lhey musL Lherefore boLh go Lhrough Lhe
polnL P so all four llnes deflned by Lhe forces are concurrenL aL P.






















Ai inis pcini, ii sncu|! |c cnpansizc! inai in a gcncric casc, ij incrc arc jcur jcrccs app|ic! ic a rigi!
|c!q ai cqui|i|riun, incsc jcrccs !c nci ncccssari|q ncc! ic |c pcinic! icuar!s a sing|c pcini (un|ikc
unai is ta|i! jcr inrcc jcrccs).
There are lvo more sles Iefl lo do: finding lhe dislance x in lhe figure above, and based on
lhal resuIl, finding lhe seed of lhe ring. efore ve conlinue vilh lhe soIulions of conleslanls,
Iel us have a Iook, hov lhese sles can be done in lhe simIesl vay.

l
5
1
O
A
8
y

o
O
Due lo |
1
coso |
2
cosp, vilh arorialeIy chosen unils of force ve can ul |
1
1, |
2
2coso (here ve
subsliluled cosp ), and |1. Nole lhal +ST+= q 0.5o
2
, and y o + /6, vhere o = sin(/6)(x+y)/+T+
0.5lan(/6)(x + 0.5o
2
). Nov ve can exress lhe verlicaI comonenls of lhe forces as foIIovs:
|
1x
+AS+/+AI+= o/!o
2
+x
2
(1+x
2
/o
2
)
-1/2
= 1 - x
2
/2o
2

and |
2x
(2 - o
2
)sin = (2 - o
2
)|0.5 + cos(/6)

oj = (2 - o
2
)|0.5 + 0.25(x + 0.5o
2
)j = 1 - 0.25o
2
+ 0.5x.
If ve denole z x/o
2
, lhe condilion |
1x
|
2x
can be vrillen as
2z
2
+ 2z - 1 0, hence (excIuding lhe negalive soIulion) z 0.5(!3 - 1). Irom here x 0.5(!3 - 1)o
2
.
Nov ve can lurn lo lhe finaI sle, finding lhe seed. To lhal end, ve inlroduce lhe inslanlaneous
rolalion cenlres C
1
and C
2
(in lhe 1
sl
raiI's and Iaboralory reference frames, resecliveIy), see aIso lhe
soIulion of Cristian Andrnnic beIov (he vas lhe onIy one lo use lhe inslanlaneous rolalion cenlres).
Irom lhe simiIar righl lriangIes C
1
AP and ASP ve oblain +C
1
P+= +C
1
S+ +AS+
2
/x 1/z !3 + 1. Il is easy
lo see lhal C
2
is very cIose lo lhe edge of lhe ring, so +C
2
O+= 1. In lhe 1sl raiI's frame, lhe seed of lhe
ring's cenlre is t
1
-o+C
1
O+ (dovn), and in lhe Iaboralory frame uo+C
2
O+ (u), here, o is lhe ring's
rolalion seed. The difference of lhe lvo veIocilies gives lhe 1
sl
frame seed, t o(+C
1
O+++C
2
O+), and
hence, lhe Iab-frame-seed of lhe ring's cenlre u t+C
2
O+/(+C
1
O+++C
2
O+) = t/(3+!3 ).
eIov, afler lhe soIulion of (a) Crislian Andronic, lhe foIIoving soIulions can be found. (|) Cyuan-Han
Chang, vho uses anolher vay lo shov lhal aII lhe friclion forces are direcled lovards lhe same oinl,
aIso, he oblains a correclion lerm lo lhe ansver vhich describes sIov deendance on o (lhis vas aIso
done in fev olher soIulions), (c) Kurcnknv Mikhai!: lhe onIy one vho cares lo shov lhal assuming
equaIily of lhe dynamic and slalic coefficienls of friclion, lhe ring cannol slay al resl if il vere al resl,
lhe friclion forces due lo lhe 2
nd
ring couId be smaIIer, lhe besl soIulions of (!) Szabo AlliIa And
(c)OIiver Idlmair.

Cyuan-Han Chang
Kurenkov Mikhail
1
WoPhO Selection Round Problem 7
Physics Cup Ring on rails
Attila Szab, Grade 12
Lewey Klra High School
Pcs, Hungary
Since is small, we can write expressions in the form of a Taylor series to the order of
2
( denotes
this expansion). The mass and the radius of the ring is m and r respectively, is the coecient of kinetic
friction. Well use a coordinate system, in which the velocity v is +y-directed.
Due to symmetry, the normal forces between a given rail and the ring in their two contact points are
the same: let them be F
1
at the rail of angle 2 and F
2
for the other one. Then, in order to have no
torque on the ring about the CM axis parallel to the rails we have the equation F
1

r
2
= F
2
r cos . From
the equilibrium of vertical forces well nd 2F
1
+2F
2
= mg. The equations give together F
1
=
mg
2
2 cos
1+2 cos
and F
2
=
mg
2
1
1+2 cos
.
The friction forces at the respective contact points are S
1
= F
1
and S
2
= F
2
in magnitude and
their directions are opposite to the relative velocities of the rail and the ring. Let u be the velocity of
the centre of the ring and its angular velocity (positive if clockwise): for being short, let r = w.
Using this notation, the relative velocity vectors in contact points C
1
and C
2
are respectively v
1
=
(wsin , u + wcos v) and v
2
= (

3
2
w, u
w
2
), therefore the sines and cosines of the angles and
(which turn up at points C
1
and C
4
as well due to symmetry) are
sin =
wsin
|v
1
|

w
|v u w|
; cos =

1 sin
2
1
w
2

2
2(v u w)
2
;
cos =
2u w
2

u
2
+w
2
uw
; sin =

3w
2

u
2
+w
2
uw
.
If we take the unit of force to be mg/2(1 +2 cos ), the respective friction forces, which will govern the
motion are
S
1
= 2 cos 2
2
; S
2
= 1.
Now were going to write down equations for the dynamic equilibrium, i.e. for the total force and
torque to be zero. The y-directed force components cancel each other out railwise; the equilibrium of the
x-directed force components and the torques give:
F
x
: 2S
2
cos 2S
1
cos ;
: 2S
1
sin sin 2S
1
cos cos + 2S
2
sin sin 2S
2
cos cos 0
Doing the second-order expansion and rearranging for 0 gives these forms of the equations:
1 +
w 2u

u
2
+w
2
uw
+

w 2u
2

u
2
+w
2
uw

w
2
2(v u w)
2

2
0;
2w u

u
2
+w
2
uw
1 +

u 2w
2

u
2
+w
2
uw
+
1
2
+
w
|v u w|
+
w
2
2(v u w)
2

2
0.
Since these equations are too dicult to solve straightforwardly, well rst solve the equations given by
the zeroth-order terms: since they contain only u and w, well get a system of equations for them. It is
easy to see that the solution of the equation is u = w which is however arbitrary. As this equality is true
for the zeroth order only, we may say that w u +x
2
(there shouldnt be any rst-order terms as the
equations have no such terms as well).
Substituting this into the equations well get the following equations for the second order terms
(zeroth-order terms will be cancelled out by the substitution itself):
3
2
x
u

1
2
u
2
(v 2u)
2
+
1
2
= 0;
3
2
x
u
+
u
|v 2u|
+
1
2
u
2
(v 2u)
2
= 0.
The only solution of this system of equations is u =
3

3
6
v and x =
1

3
12
v. The requested velocity
is therefore
3

3
6
v.
2
Problem 7 Oliver Edtmair

The ring (radius R) moves with a velocity

parallel to the rails and rotates around its

centre with an angular velocity . Friction forces are acted on the ring in the points
where the ring touches the rails. These forces are parallel to the velocities of the rings
touching points relative to the rails. The friction forces can be expressed by

vertical force acted from the ring on the rail in the touching point)

The total torque exerted on the ring is 0.

(index 1 point where the ring touches the moving rail
index 2 point where the ring touches the rail at rest)

Relative velocities and friction forces:

and

.



This gives an equation for

Lines are drawn through the friction force vectors. The lines through both the two
friction force vectors on the left hand side (

) and the two friction force vectors on the

right hand side (

) cross each other on the horizontal line through the centre of the
ring in the sketch. The two friction forces on the left side (

) do not exert a torque on

the ring if the origin is the crossing point of the lines through these two vectors. As the
total torque acted on the ring is 0, the two friction forces on the right side (

) must not
exert a torque on the ring in this coordinate system. Therefore, the four lines through
the four friction force vectors cross at one single point on the horizontal line through the
centre of the ring.

The total force parallel to the rails exerted on the ring is 0. Thus

Using the sketch,

and

, the following equation can be set up

( )

()

Rearranging this equation gives

[()

()

( ) ()

[ ( )

]

()

, ( )

is of the order of magnitude of

. All terms in the equation that include a power of

higher than 4 are neglected.

The centre of the ring moves with a velocity

in the direction of .