Abstract
The program Wedge studies the dynamics of a billiard in a gravitational field, or more precisely, a falling body in a symmetric wedge. The boundary of this billiard (compare the discussion of billiard systems in Chap. 3) consists of two planes symmetrically inclined with respect to a constant (e.g. gravitational) force field. The particle is reflected elastically from these planes. For simplicity, we consider the motion to be two-dimensional. We use Cartesian coordinates (u, h) in coordinate space (see Fig. 4.1). In contrast to the billiard systems discussed in Chap. 3, the velocity of the particle changes here, and the trajectory between the reflections is curved (a parabola). An example of such a trajectory is shown in Fig. 4.1.
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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Korsch, H.J., Jodl, HJ. (1999). Gravitational Billiards: The Wedge. In: Chaos. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03866-6_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03866-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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