Rectangular to spherical coordinates

x=rsinθcosφy=rsinθsinφz=rcosθ
Spherical polar coordinates in terms of Cartesian coordinates are
r=√x2+y2+z2tanθ=√x2+y2ztanφ=yz
Solved Problems on Spherical Polar co-ordinates
Question 1
How to Find Kinetic energy in terms of (r,θ,ϕ)
Solution 1
We have to find the kinetic energy in terms of (r,θ,ϕ) that is in terms of spherical c0-ordinates. Kinetic energy in terms of Cartesian co-ordinates is
T=12m(˙x2+˙y2+˙z2) (1)
Where ˙x,˙yand˙z are derivatives of z, y and z with respect to time.
Cartesian co-ordinates x, y, z in terms of r,θ and ϕ are
x=rsinθcosϕy=rsinθsinϕz=rcosθ
Now derivatives of x, y and z w.r.t. t is
˙x=dxdt=˙rsinθcosϕ+rcosθcosϕ˙θ–rsinθsinϕ˙ϕ˙y=dydt=˙rsinθsinϕ+rcosθsinϕ˙θ+rsinθcosϕ˙ϕ˙z=dzdt=˙rcosθ–rsinθ˙θ
Where
˙r=drdt,˙θ=dθdt,˙ϕ=dϕdt
means all r,θ and ϕ changes with time as the particle moves or changes its position with time.
Now calculate for
˙x2,˙y2,˙z2
and add them. After adding them we get
(˙x)2+(˙y)2+(˙z)2=˙r2+r2˙θ2+r2sin2θ˙ϕ2
Putting this value of (˙x)2+(˙y)2+(˙z)2in equation 1 we get kinetic energy of particle or system in terms of r,θ and ϕ.
Hence,
T=12m(˙r2+r2˙θ2+r2sin2θ˙ϕ2)
spherical coordinates unit vectors
1. ˆr: points towards the r axis that is in the direction of the vector →r along which only coordinate r changes. We can also write→r=rˆr.
2. ˆθ: Unit vector ˆθ is tangent at P to circle SPT . Displacement along this circle only changes coordinate.
3. ˆφ: This unit vector is also tangent at P if circle under consideration is PP′ produced by rotation of OP along the z-axis. Displacement along this circle only changes φ.
The general differential displacement for any particle P in spherical polar coordinate is
d→r=drˆr+rdθˆθ+rsinθdφˆφ
The unit vectors ˆr ,ˆθ and ˆφ can be expressed in terms of ˆi , ˆj and ˆk :
ˆr=sinθcosφˆi+sinθsinφˆj+cosθˆkˆθ=cosθcosφˆi+cosθsinφˆj–sinθˆkˆφ=–sinφˆi+cosφˆj
The unit vectors (ˆr,ˆθ,ˆφ) , unlike (ˆi,ˆj,ˆk) are not constant vectors but change in direction as co-ordinates θ and φ change. At each point they constitute an orthogonal right handed co-ordinate system, that is we have
ˆr⋅ˆφ=ˆr⋅ˆθ=ˆθ⋅ˆφ=0ˆr׈θ=ˆφˆθ׈φ=ˆrˆφ׈r=ˆθ
Reference books
1. Mechanics Paperback – 2007 by P.K. Srivastava
2. MECHANICS Paperback – 14 Jul 2003 by H Hans (Author), S Puri (Author)
Reference material for further reading
1. Refer this link to determine the spherical unit vectors in terms of Cartesian coordinates
http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~fratus/phys103/Disc/disc_notes_3_pdf.pdf
2. http://planetmath.org/unitvectorsincurvilinearcoordinates to know more about curvilinear coordinates
3. Find extra stuff at this link http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalCoordinates.html
Definitely, there is much much more information to be added to this topic. I’ll do it some other time.