cum LI Dynamics of Rigid Bodies 11.1 Introduction We define a rigid body as a collection of particles whose relative distances are constrained to remain absolutely fixed. Such bodies do not exist in nature, be- cause the ultimate component particles composing every body (the atoms) are always undergoing some relative motion like vibrations. This motion, however, is microscopic, and it therefore usually may be ignored when describing the macroscopic motion of the body. However, macroscopic displacement within the body (such as elastic deformations) can take place. For many bodies of interest, we can safely neglect the changes in size and shape caused by such deformations and obtain equations of motion valid to a high degree of accuracy. We use here the idealized concept of a rigid body as a collection of discrete particles or as a continuous distribution of matter interchangeably. The only change is the replacement of summations over particles by integrations over mass density distributions. The equations of motion are equally valid for either viewpoint. We have studied rigid bodies in introductory physics and have already seen examples in this book of hoops and cylinders rolling down inclined planes. We also know how to find the center of mass of various rigid objects (Section 9.2). Such problems can’be handled with concepts already presented including rota- tional inertia, angular velocity and momentum, and torque. We can use these techniques to solve many problems, such as some simple examples of planar mo- tion in Section 11.2. When we allow complete three-dimensional motion, the mathematical complexity considerably escalates. The classic example, of course, is of the cat, who invariably lands on its feet after being dropped (under a care- fully controlled experimental situation) with its feet initially pointing upwards. 4u412 11 / DYNAMICS OF RIGID BODIES We have learned to describe the motion of a body by the sum of two inde- pendent motions—a linear translation of some point of the body plus a rotation about that point.* If the point is chosen to be the center of mass of the body, then such a separation of the motion into two parts allows the use of the development in Chapter 9, which indicates that the angular momentum (see Equation 9.39) can be separated into portions relating to the motion of the center of mass and to the motion around the center of mass. Itis the general rotation that increases the complexity. We will find it useful to have two coordinate systems, one an inertial coordinate system (fixed) and the other a coordinate system fixed with respect to the body. Six quantities must be specified to denote the position of the body. We normally use three coordi- nates to describe the position of the center of mass (which can often conve- niently be made to coincide with the origin of the body coordinate system) and three independent angles that give the orientation of the body coordinate sys- tem with respect to the fixed (or inertial) system.' The three independent angles are normally taken to be the Eulerian angles, described in Section 11.8, Unfortunately, the mathematical level increases in this chapter. We will find it prudent to introduce tensor and matrix algebra in order to describe the com- plete motion of simple looking dynamical systems like rotating tops (either free or in a gravitational field), dumbbells, gyroscopes, flywheels, and automobile wheels outofbalance. We will use the dumbbell, because of its simplicity, as our system of interest as we introduce the needed mathematics. 11.2 Simple Planar Motion We have already solved the problem of a disk rolling down an inclined plane (see Examples 6.5 and 7.9, and Figure 6-7). Several end-ofchapter problems in Chapter 7 concerned simple rigid bodies. We discussed center of mass in Section 9.2, angular momentum of a system of particles in Section 9.4, and the energy of the system in Section 9.5. We restrict ourselves in this section to the motion of a rigid body in a plane and present examples as a review of our introductory physics. k_ &@& & & &«©+©+©+7=3 sti ‘(etw” A string attached to the ceiling is wrapped around a homogenous cylinder of mass Mand radius R (see Figure 11-1). At time ¢ = 0, the cylinder is dropped from rest and rotates as the string unwinds. Find the tension T in the string, the linear and angular accelerations of the cylinder, and the angular velocity about, the cylinder’s center. *Chasles' Theorem, which is even more general than this statement (it says that the line of translation and the axis of rotation can be made to coincide), was proven by the French mathematician Michel Chases (1793-1880) in 1880. The proof is given, e.., by E. T. Whittaker (Wh37, p. 4). +In this chapter, we use the designation body system in place of the term rotating stem used in the pre- ceding chapter. The term fized system will be retained.11.2. SIMPLE PLANAR MOTION 413 FIGURE 11-1 Example 1-1. A string attached to the ceiling is wrapped around a cylinder. The cylinder is released from rest. Solution. ‘The center of mass moves due to the sum of the forces, which are all in the vertical direction. We let y point downward. Mj = F,- T= Mg- T, (a) where the center of mass acceleration is , and we have used F, = Mg. The ro- tation about the cylinder’s center of mass at Ois due to the tension T. T= RT=16 (11.2) where 7 is the torque about O, and is the rotational inertia of the cylinder (MR®/2). We let y = 0 and 6 = 0 at ¢ = 0 when the cylinder is released. Then we have y = R9,j = V= R6, and 5 = RB. We can combine these relations with Equations 11.1 and 11.2 to determine the acceleration. wey ome &~ 9 which gives j = 2g/3 for the acceleration, and the angular acceleration, S/R = 2g/3R. The tension Tis then found from Equation 11.2 to be 16 MR?¥— M2g RoR 9 3) MES (18) 6 = WR. We integrate § to obtain V= § = 2gt/3 a= The angular velocity is w and w = 2gt/3R. —_kx=z =—S—té‘“‘“‘—OSOC:OCOCT A physical or compound pendulum is a rigid body that oscillates due to its own weight about a horizontal axis that does not pass through the center of mass of the body (Figure 11-2). For small oscillations, find the frequency and period of oscillation if the mass of the body is Mand the radius of gyration is k.