Physics Asked on December 24, 2020
In the book "Fundamental Laws of Mechanics" by I.E Irodov, on page 15, he writes as a footnote,
note the in general case $ |mathrm{d}textbf{r}| neq mathrm{d}r$ where $r$ is the modulus of the radius vector $textbf{r}$, and $ v neq frac{mathrm{d}r}{mathrm{d}t}$. For example, when $textbf{r}$ changes only in direction, that is the point moves in a circle, then $ r= textit{const}$; $mathrm{d}r=0$ but $ |mathrm{d} textbf{r}| neq 0$.
The reason this doesn’t make sense to me, is suppose we have a position vector modelling circular motion, suppose,
$$vec{ r(t)} = vec{r_o} + ( cos theta vec{i} + sin theta vec{j})$$
Where, $ theta$ is a function of time (with $ frac{d theta}{dt} =omega$ and $r_o$ is a constant vector, then,
$ mathrm{d(vec{r})} = omega ( -sin theta vec{i} + cos theta vec{j}) dt $
now,
$ |mathrm{d(vec{r})}| = omega dt$
Now, neither of these are zero, so I’m looking for a simpler explanation of what Irodov is saying
In your example $mathbf{r}$ does not change in direction only. There is no reason to believe that (for $theta=0$) $vec r_0+hat i$ has the same magnitude as (for $theta=pi/2$) $vec r_0+hat j$.
In the statement “the point moves in a circle”, the center of the circle is assumed to be at the origin.
Correct answer by ZeroTheHero on December 24, 2020
I think the author is not refering to the same situation you are thinking on: if the origin does not coincide with the center of the circle, $|dr|$ is never zero, because $|vec{r}|$ varies between $r_0+R$ and $r_0-R$. The affirmation the author makes is only valid if $r_0=0$. In that case, $vec{r}$ changes its direction, but not its modulus.
Answered by Pablo Lemos on December 24, 2020
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