Paper 2, Section I, C
Part II, 2011
Three particles, each of mass , move along a straight line. Their positions on the line containing the origin, , are and . They are subject to forces derived from the potential energy function
Obtain Lagrange's equations for the system, and show that the frequency, , of a normal mode satisfies
where . Find a complete set of normal modes for the system, and draw a diagram indicating the nature of the corresponding motions.