Tagged Questions

3
votes
1answer
174 views

Can any physical rigid body be represented by an ellipsoid with the same angular dynamics?

According to wikipedia, the inertia tensor of an ellipsoid with semi-axes $a,b,c$ and mass $m$ is $\left[\begin{array}{ccc} \frac{m}{5}(b^2+c^2)&0&0\\ 0&\frac{m}{5}(a^2+c^2)&0\\ ...
2
votes
2answers
135 views

Rigid body dynamics of tossing of a coin

While tossing a coin, it is commonly experienced that you get a head, if you toss it up with the head side up, and a tails if you toss with the tails side up. Is there a mathematical proof of this ...
1
vote
3answers
89 views

Reference for the predictability of rigid body dynamics

I'm looking for a reference, journal article, paper, etc. that supports the idea that classical mechanics, in particular rigid body dynamics, is largely predictable. A view coming from the background ...
1
vote
1answer
65 views

Rigid body/moment of inertia problem

I have a homework assignment about rigid body dynamics. Take a disc of radius $r=2m$ with uniform mass density $\rho=1$ $kg/m^2$ in the x-y plane, resting in an inertial frame. At some instant, a ...
0
votes
2answers
248 views

Precession of angular velocity about the body-fixed axis

My textbook mentions that under force-free motion of a symmetric top, its angular velocity vector $\overrightarrow \omega$ precesses about the $z$-axis of the body-fixed coordinate system. This seems ...
2
votes
2answers
417 views

degree of freedom of a rigid body 5 or 6?

I'm confused here. I have a three particle (rigid) system. What would be the degree of freedom? I found out five. 3 coordinates for center of mass and 2 for describing orientation. But we have only ...
3
votes
1answer
477 views

Conservation of linear and angular momentum

Suppose I have two rigid bodies A and B and they are connected by a spring which is attached off-center (thus possibly causing torques). Due to the spring a force $f$ acts on A and a force $-f$ acts ...
7
votes
3answers
89 views

Rotationally invariant body and principal axis

Suppose a rigid body is invariant under a rotation around an axis $\mathsf{A}$ by a given angle $0 \leq \alpha_0 < 2\pi$ (and also every multiple of $\alpha_0$). Is it true that in this case the ...
2
votes
6answers
586 views

Degree of freedom paradox for a rigid body

Suppose we consider a rigid body, which has $N$ particles. Then the number of degrees of freedom is $3N - (\mbox{# of constraints})$. As the distance between any two points in a rigid body is fixed, ...
2
votes
3answers
222 views

how to represent the effect of linking rigid-bodies together?

I have 2 rigid-bodies (b1,b2) if i linked one to the other (as if they are conjoined together) , how to represent b1 effect on b2 and b2 effect on b1 Is there any LAW that affect the ...