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    Atharv Aggarwal
    1. A geodesic is the shortest path between two points on a surface. On a sphere, the geodesic is a great circle. 2. To find the geodesic, the element of length on the surface of a sphere is derived. Minimizing the distance between two points yields an equation involving angles θ and φ. 3. Solving the equation gives an expression relating cotθ to φ, which can be written as an equation of a plane passing through the center of the sphere. Therefore, the geodesic is the intersection of this plane with the spherical surface, which is a great circle.

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    Problems

    Uploaded by

    Atharv Aggarwal
    14 views2 pages
    1. A geodesic is the shortest path between two points on a surface. On a sphere, the geodesic is a great circle. 2. To find the geodesic, the element of length on the surface of a sphere is derived. Minimizing the distance between two points yields an equation involving angles θ and φ. 3. Solving the equation gives an expression relating cotθ to φ, which can be written as an equation of a plane passing through the center of the sphere. Therefore, the geodesic is the intersection of this plane with the spherical surface, which is a great circle.

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    1. A geodesic is the shortest path between two points on a surface. On a sphere, the geodesic is a great circle. 2. To find the geodesic, the element of length on the surface of a sphere is derived. Minimizing the distance between two points yields an equation involving angles θ and φ. 3. Solving the equation gives an expression relating cotθ to φ, which can be written as an equation of a plane passing through the center of the sphere. Therefore, the geodesic is the intersection of this plane with the spherical surface, which is a great circle.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    14 views2 pages

    Problems

    Uploaded by

    Atharv Aggarwal
    1. A geodesic is the shortest path between two points on a surface. On a sphere, the geodesic is a great circle. 2. To find the geodesic, the element of length on the surface of a sphere is derived. Minimizing the distance between two points yields an equation involving angles θ and φ. 3. Solving the equation gives an expression relating cotθ to φ, which can be written as an equation of a plane passing through the center of the sphere. Therefore, the geodesic is the intersection of this plane with the spherical surface, which is a great circle.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Adarsh Mishra

    March 12, 2024

    1 PROBLEM 1
    A geodesic is a line that represents the shortest path between any two points when the path is restricted
    to a particular surface. Find the geodesic on a sphere.

    ◦
    SOLUTION The element of length on the surface of a sphere of radius ρ is given (see Equation
    F. 15 with dr = 0 ) by
    1/2
    ds = ρ dθ2 + sin2 θdϕ2
    The distance s between points 1 and 2 is therefore
    " 2 #1/2
    Z 2
    dθ 2
    s=ρ + sin θ dϕ
    1 dϕ

    and, if s is to be a minimum, f is identified as


    1/2
    f = θ′2 + sin2 θ

    where θ′ ≡ dθ/dϕ. Because ∂f /∂ϕ = 0, we may use the second form of the Euler equation (Equation
    6.40), which yields
    1/2 ∂ 1/2
    θ′2 + sin2 θ − θ′ · ′
    θ′2 + sin2 θ = constant ≡ a
    ∂θ
    Differentiating and multiplying through by f , we have
    1/2
    sin2 θ = a θ′2 + sin2 θ

    This may be solved for dϕ/dθ = θ′−1 , with the result

    dϕ a csc2 θ
    = 1/2
    dθ (1 − a2 csc2 θ)

    Solving for ϕ, we obtain  


    cot θ −1
    ϕ = sin +α
    β
    
    where α is the constant of integration and β 2 ≡ 1 − a2 /a2 . Rewriting Equation 6.47 produces

    cot θ = β sin(ϕ − α)

    To interpret this result, we convert the equation to rectangular coordinates by multiplying through
    by ρ sin θ to obtain, on expanding sin(ϕ − α),

    (β cos α)ρ sin θ sin ϕ − (β sin α)ρ sin θ cos ϕ = ρ cos θ

    Because α and β are constants, we may write them as

    β cos α ≡ A, β sin α ≡ B

    1
    Then Equation becomes

    A(ρ sin θ sin ϕ) − B(ρ sin θ cos ϕ) = (ρ cos θ)

    The quantities in the parentheses are just the expressions for y, x, and z, respec tively, in spherical
    coordinates ; therefore Equatior may be written as

    Ay − Bx = z

    which is the equation of a plane passing through the center of the sphere. Hence the geodesic on a
    sphere is the path that the plane forms at the intersection with the surface of the sphere-a great circle.
    Note that the great circle is the maximum as well as the minimum ”straight-line” distance between
    two points on the surface of a sphere.

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