A mechanical model that exhibits a gravitational critical radius

Abstract

Circular orbits of a particle sliding on a frictionless surface of revolution about a vertical axis are unstable below a critical radius if the curvature of the surface satisfies a specified condition. This behavior can be realized in a mechanical model, which give a glimpse of the greater complexity of particle orbits in curved rather than flat spacetime.

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Fermat's principle and variational analysis of an optical model for light propagation exhibiting a critical radius
• Test problems in mechanics and special relativity