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My textbook mentions Chasles' theorem which asserts that

" it is always possible to represent an arbitrary displacement of a rigid body by a translation of its center of mass plus a rotation around its center of mass. "

Is the center of mass the only such point in general or can that be done for any point? I am aware that in some cases such as a rigid body pivoted at one end, the motion can be represented as (zero) translation of the pivot-point and rotation about that pivot, but is this true for any point in general?

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    $\begingroup$ See here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_axis $\endgroup$
    – Eli
    Commented Jul 10 at 7:13
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    $\begingroup$ Any geometric point at rest with the body (even outside the body) has the requested property. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 10 at 8:37
  • $\begingroup$ @ValterMoretti, what does it mean, mathematically, for a point outside a moving body at to be at rest? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 10 at 11:02
  • $\begingroup$ Consider a triple of ortogonal axes $e_1,e_2,e_3$ at rest with the body centered at a point $P$ of the body. Any vector position that is a constant linear combination of these axes $v= \sum_{k=1}^3 x_ke_k$ detemines a point $Q=P+v$ in the rest space of the body. It does not matter if $Q$ is a material point of the body. Think of the center of a massive circumference... $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 10 at 11:53
  • $\begingroup$ According to Michel Chasles' theorem, any arbitrary motion of a rigid body can be represented by a screw motion. In this motion, the body rotates about the instantaneous axis of rotation and simultaneously translates in the direction of the rotation axis. do you need the equations? $\endgroup$
    – Eli
    Commented Jul 10 at 13:00

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A rigid body $B$, by definition, is such that, for every point $O\in B$ there is a triple of orthonormal axes ${\bf e}_1, {\bf e}_2, {\bf e}_3$ centered at $O$ such that the material points $Q$ of body $B$ have constant (in time) position vectors when refereed to that frame:

$Q-O = \sum_{k=1}^e x_k(Q) {\bf e}_k$, independently of the motion of $B$.

Now consider another reference frame $O'$, ${\bf e}'_1, {\bf e}'_2, {\bf e}'_3$, where the body appears to move.

If you know the position in thaty space of $O$ and ${\bf e}_1, {\bf e}_2, {\bf e}_3$, you completely know the position of all points of $B$.

To describe the motion of the body in the space of $O'$, ${\bf e}'_1, {\bf e}'_2, {\bf e}'_3$ we can always proceed as follows.

  1. Assign the translatory motion of $O$: $$O= O' + \sum_{j=1}^{3}x_j(t) {\bf e}'_j\:.$$

  2. Define a third triple of axes ${\bf e}''_1, {\bf e}''_2, {\bf e}''_3$ centered on $O$ and always parallel to ${\bf e}'_1, {\bf e}'_2, {\bf e}'_3$.

  3. Describe how the axes ${\bf e}_1(t), {\bf e}_2(t), {\bf e}_3(t)$ (at rest with $B$) are seen in the triple in 2. This just amounts to assigning a map $R=R(t) \in O(3)$ such that $${\bf e}_j(t)= \sum_{k=1}^3 R_{jk}(t){\bf e}''_k $$ where every $R(t)$ is a rotation matrix.

It is clear that all the procedure can be performed for every choice of the point $O\in B$. Not only, you can also choose a point $O_1$ which is at rest in the space defined by $O$, ${\bf e}_1, {\bf e}_2, {\bf e}_3$ instead of $O$ itself. It does not matter if $O_1$ is a material point of $B$. It is sufficient that it is at rest with $B$.

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