Question

A particle, which is constrained to move along the x -axis, is subjected to a force in the same direction which varies with the distance x of the particle from the origin as F(x) = - kx + ax³ . Here k and a are positive constants. For x ≥ 0 , the functional form of the potential energy U(x) of the particle is

Answer 1

Correct option (d)

Explanation:

We have

The function U has a maximum value at x = √(k/a) nd function U is negative for x >√(2k/a).

The above characteristics are shown by graph (d).