3D Rigid Body Dynamics: Kinetic Energy, Instability, Equations of Motion

In Lecture 25 and 26, we laid the foundation for our study of the three-dimensional dynamics of rigid bodies by: 1.) developing the framework for the description of changes in angular velocity due to a general motion of a three-dimensional rotating body; and 2.) developing the framework for the effects of the distribution of mass of a three-dimensional rotating body on its motion, defining the principal axes of a body, the inertia tensor, and how to change from one reference coordinate system to another. We now undertake the description of angular momentum, moments and motion of a general three-dimensional rotating body. We approach this very difficult general problem from two points of view. The first is to prescribe the motion in term of given rotations about fixed axes and solve for the force system required to sustain this motion. The second is to study the ”free” motions of a body in a simple force field such as gravitational force acting through the center of mass or ”free” motion such as occurs in a ”zero-g” environment. The typical problems in this second category involve gyroscopes and spinning tops. The second set of problems is by far the more difficult. Before we begin this general approach, we examine a case where kinetic energy can give us considerable insight into the behavior of a rotating body. This example has considerable practical importance and its neglect has been the cause of several system failures.