Consider a system of coordinates rotating with angular velocity ω relative to an inertial coordinate system.
Show that if a vector v is changing at a rate dv/dt in the inertial system, then it is changing at a rate
dtdv∣∣∣∣∣rot =dtdv−ω∧v
with respect to the rotating system.
A solid body rotates with angular velocity ω in the absence of external torque. Consider the rotating coordinate system aligned with the principal axes of the body.
(a) Show that in this system the motion is described by the Euler equations
I1dtdω1∣∣∣rot =ω2ω3(I2−I3),I2dtdω2∣∣∣rot =ω3ω1(I3−I1),I3dtdω3∣∣∣rot =ω1ω2(I1−I2), where (ω1,ω2,ω3) are the components of the angular velocity in the rotating system and I1,2,3 are the principal moments of inertia.
(b) Consider a body with three unequal moments of inertia, I3<I2<I1. Show that rotation about the 1 and 3 axes is stable to small perturbations, but rotation about the 2 axis is unstable.
(c) Use the Euler equations to show that the kinetic energy, T, and the magnitude of the angular momentum, L, are constants of the motion. Show further that
2TI3≤L2≤2TI1.