Cycloidal Paths in Physics

Abstract

A popular classroom demonstration is to draw a cycloid on a blackboard with a piece of chalk inserted through a hole at a point P with radius r = R from the center of a wood disk of radius R that is rolling without slipping along the chalk tray of the blackboard. Here the parametric equations versus time are derived for the path of P from the superposition of the translational motion of the center of mass (cm) of the disk and the rotational motion of P about this cm for r = R (cycloid), r < R (curtate cycloid) and r > R (prolate cycloid). It is further shown that the path of P is still a cycloidal function for rolling with frictionless slipping, but where the time dependence of the sinusoidal Cartesian coordinates of the position of P is modified. In a similar way the parametric equations versus time for the orbit with respect to a star of a moon in a circular orbit about a planet that is in a circular orbit about a star are derived, where the orbits are coplanar. Finally, the general parametric equations versus time for the path of the magnetization vector during undamped electron-spin resonance are found, which show that cycloidal paths can occur under certain conditions.