The motion of a freely falling chain tip

Jean-Christophe Géminard (1) , Piotr Pieranski (2) , Waldek Tomaszewski (2)

1 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon
2 Laboratory of Computational Physics and Semiconductors

The dynamics of the tip of a falling chain is analyzed. The results of laboratory experiments are presented and compared with the results of numerical simulations. The time dependence of the velocity and the acceleration of the chain tip for several initial conformations of the chain are determined. A simple analytical model of the system is also considered.

Mots clés: Folded chain; Dynamics

Domaines: Physique Générale [physics.gen-ph]

Jean-Christophe Géminard, Piotr Pieranski, Waldek Tomaszewski. The motion of a freely falling chain tip. American Journal of Physics, 2005, 74 (9), pp.776-783. ⟨ensl-00180258⟩