User:Zvika/Sandbox

The Lagrangian is given by $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}L&={\text{kinetic energy}}-{\text{potential energy}}\\&={\tfrac {1}{2}}m\left(v_{1}^{2}+v_{2}^{2}\right)+{\tfrac {1}{2}}I\left({\dot {\theta }}_{1}^{2}+{\dot {\theta }}_{2}^{2}\right)-mg\left(y_{1}+y_{2}\right)\\&={\tfrac {1}{2}}m\left({\dot {x}}_{1}^{2}+{\dot {y}}_{1}^{2}+{\dot {x}}_{2}^{2}+{\dot {y}}_{2}^{2}\right)+{\tfrac {1}{2}}I\left({\dot {\theta }}_{1}^{2}+{\dot {\theta }}_{2}^{2}\right)-mg\left(y_{1}+y_{2}\right)\end{aligned}}}$$ The first term is the linear kinetic energy of the center of mass of the bodies and the second term is the rotational kinetic energy around the center of mass of each rod. The last term is the potential energy of the bodies in a uniform gravitational field. The dot-notation indicates the time derivative of the variable in question.