Classical Particle in a Coulomb-Like Radial Potential
Classical Particle in a Coulomb-Like Radial Potential
This Demonstration shows the negative energy trajectories of a point mass moving in the radially symmetric potential . Due to the radial symmetry the point mass moves in a two-dimensional plane perpendicular to the angular momentum vector.
U(x,y,z)-
-α/2
++
2
x
2
y
2
z
The case of corresponds to the Coulomb potential, where negative energy trajectories are periodic. For , all the negative energy trajectories go through the origin.
α=1
α≥2