37 questions linked to/from Lagrangians not of the form $T-U$
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### Why isn't the Euler-Lagrange equation trivial?

The Euler-Lagrange equation gives the equations of motion of a system with Lagrangian $L$. Let $q^\alpha$ represent the generalized coordinates of a configuration manifold, $t$ represent time. The ...
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### What is the physical meaning of the action in Lagrangian mechanics?

The action is defined as $S = \int_{t_1}^{t_2}L \, dt$ where $L$ is Lagrangian. I know that using Euler-Lagrange equation, all sorts of formula can be derived, but I remain unsure of the physical ...
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### Is there a proof from the first principle that the Lagrangian L = T - V?

Is there a proof from the first principle that for the Lagrangian $L$, $$L = T\text{(kinetic energy)} - V\text{(potential energy)}$$ in classical mechanics? Assume that Cartesian coordinates are ...
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### Why can't we ascribe a (possibly velocity dependent) potential to a dissipative force?

Sorry if this is a silly question but I cant get my head around it.
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### Motivation for form of Lagrangian

This question (in lagrangian mechanics) might be silly, but why is the Lagrangian L defined as: $L = T - V$? I understand that the total mechanical energy of an isolated system is conserved, and that ...
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### What causes a force field to be “non-conservative?”

A conservative force field is one in which all that matters is that a particle goes from point A to point B. The time (or otherwise) path involved makes no difference. Most force fields in physics ...
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### Lagrangian and Hamiltonian EOM with dissipative force

I am trying to write the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian for the forced Harmonic oscillator before quantizing it to get to the quantum picture. For EOM $$m\ddot{q}+\beta\dot{q}+kq=f(t),$$ I write the ...
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### What does a Lagrangian of the form $L=m^2\dot x^4 +U(x)\dot x^2 -W(x)$ represent?

I saw this Lagrangian in notes I have printed: $$L\left(x,\frac{dx}{dt}\right) = \frac{m^2}{12}\left(\frac{dx}{dt}\right)^4 + m\left(\frac{dx}{dt}\right)^2\times V(x) -V^2(x).$$ (It appears in the ...
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### Why relativistic Lagrangian doesn't simply equal kinetic minus potential energy $L=T-V$?

As the question above, I wonder why the relativistic Lagrangian is written as: $$L=-mc² \sqrt{1-\frac{v²}{c²}} - V ~=~-\frac{mc^2}{\gamma} -V~?$$ I know that the kinetic energy of a relativistic ...
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### Higher order derivatives - Equation of motion

One possible starting point to create a physical theory is the Lagrangian $L$. There we assume that the variation of the action $\delta S = \delta \int_{-\infty}^\infty dt \ L = 0$. In classical ...
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### Principle of Least Action via Finite-Difference Method

I am reading Gelfand's Calculus of Variations & mathematically everything makes sense to me, it makes perfect sense to me to set up the mathematics of extremization of functionals & show that ...
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### What makes a Lagrangian a Lagrangian?

I just wanted to know what the characteristic property of a Lagrangian is? How do you see without referring to Newtonian Mechanics that it has to be $L=T-V$? People constructed a Lagrangian in ...
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From definition of Lagrangian: $L = T - U$. As I understand for free particle ($U = 0$) one should write $L = T$. In special relativity we want Lorentz-invariant action thus we define free-particle ...
Goldstein's book of Classical Mechanics derive the Euler-Lagrange equations from two different principles: Hamilton's principle states that \delta S = \delta\int_{t_1}^{t_2}L(q^{i},\dot{q}^{i},t)...