The function
is a rough scale model of a pair of small mountains named Monte Sol and Monte Luna on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Monte Sol, the bigger of the two mountains is about 200 meters high above the plain, so the scale is 1 = 100 meters.
In this lab you will use vector calculus, 3D graphics, and numerical integration of differential equations to explore how water flows when a gentle rain falls on the mountains.
Problem 1. Make a surface plot of Monte Sol and Monte Luna. It should look something like this.
Problem 2. In a gentle rainstorm, water will flow down the mountains in the direction of steepest descent, i.e. along the negative of the gradient of . Find the gradient of
using elementary calculus, then make an
plot with both contours of the mountain height
and a quiver plot showing the direction of flow of rainwater. It should look something like this.
Problem 3. Superimpose on your previous plot the path of a raindrop that falls at
. We're assuming the velocity of the raindrop as it drips down is proportional to the negative of the gradient of the height. That is,
,
where
is the
velocity of the raindrop. For convenience set
(this won't change the path). Then compute the path of the raindrop numerically using forward Euler time-stepping,
Problem 4. Then show the path of the raindrop in 3d, superimposed on the surface plot. You will need to use Matlab's plot3
function.
Problem 5. Recompute the plot of problem 3 using Matlab's ode45
numerical integration function instead of forward Euler.
Problem 6. Plot the paths of 100 raindrops that fall randomly on the mountains. Show the hundred raindrop paths on both the contour plot and the 3d surface plot.