A model of oscillator with variable mass

H. Rodrigues^a*, N. Panza^a, D. Portes Jr^a, A. Soares^b

^a Departamento de Física, Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Av. Maracaná, 229, 20271-110, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil, * e-mail: harg.astrophys@gmail.com

^b Departamento de Matemática, Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Av. Maracanã, 229, 20271-110, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Abstract

We discuss the general form of Newton's second law for variable mass systems. We then derive the equation of motion of one-dimensional oscillator with time-varying mass. The obtained equation of motion is then analytically solved and the solutions are represented by means of Hypergeometric functions. The work is addressed to physics class at undergraduate level.

Keywords: Newton's second law; variable mass systems; oscillators; hypergeometric functions.

PACS: 45.20.D-;02.30.Hq

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