Tag: Conservative forces

Can Hamiltonian mechanics describe dissipative systems?

Can Hamiltonian mechanics describe dissipative systems?

TL;DR – Time dependent Hamiltonian mechanics is for conservative forces in non inertial frames, not for non-conservative forces. In a previous post we saw how Hamiltonian and Newtonian mechanics are different as the first cannot describe dissipative systems. Yet, if we allow the Hamiltonian to be time dependent, the system would appear to change its …

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