Study of the motion of a double cone on a V track

Abstract

We use the law of conservation of mechanical energy in order to study the motion of a double cone on a V track under different conditions (initial conditions and geometric configuration). We show that, depending on the geometric configurations, this problem exhibits three regimes of motion. At the most interesting one, the paradoxical regime, the double cone rolls to the upper section of the V track, even when we give it a small impulse in the opposite direction. In addition, we present the experimental system that we used to verify some of our theoretical results.

double cone; Leybourn uphill roller; conservation of mechanical energy