info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Introducing the Hamiltonian as a “thermodynamic” potential
Fecha
2019-05Registro en:
Correa, Víctor Félix; Introducing the Hamiltonian as a “thermodynamic” potential; IOP Publishing; European Journal of Physics; 40; 3; 5-2019
0143-0807
CONICET Digital
CONICET
Autor
Correa, Víctor Félix
Resumen
A conceptually simple physical interpretation of a conserved Hamiltonian H for a mechanical system with a time-dependent constraint is given. For the case of a bead on a vertical hoop forced to rotate with constant angular velocity w, H is nothing but the total energy of the system plus the external actuator keeping fixed. In an analogy with thermodynamics, the Hamiltonian is introduced as a thermodynamic potential obtained from a Legendre transformation of the energy, in a very instructive way. The ideas can be made extensive to different problems with time-dependent constraints.