Classical Mechanics

Unit3 Rigid Body Motion  II

1 Angular Momentum, Moment of Inertia and Ki-

netic Energy of a Rigid Body

1.1 Angular velocity of a rigid body

Consider any two points of a rigid body having position vectors R

~ 1 and R
~ 2 with
respect to xed set of coordinate system. Therefore,

~ = R
R ~2 − R
~1 (1.1)
Assuming the origin of second set of axes to be at point 1, using above equation,
the rate of change of R
~ 2 would be,

! ! !
~2
dR ~1
dR ~
dR
= +
dt dt dt
s
!s s
~1
dR
= ~
~1 × R
+ω (1.2)
dt
s

where we have used dt s = ω

dR ~, ω
~ 1 being the angular velocity of the rigid


~1 × R
body with respect to the origin of 'space axes' at point 1.
Similarly if, instead, we take the origin of the 'body' axes at point 2, then equation
(1.1) would give,

! ! !
~1
dR ~2
dR ~
dR
= −
dt dt dt
s
!s s
~2
dR
= −ω ~
~2 × R (1.3)
dt
s

where ω
~ 2 being the angular velocity of the rigid body with respect to the origin
of 'space axes' at point 2. Adding equations (1.2) and (1.3), we thus obtain,

(~ω1 − ω ~ = 0
~ 2) × R

1
Figure 1: Two points of a rigid body moves with same angular velocity. (PC: Goldstein)

and hence,

ω
~1 = ω
~2 (1.4)

Thus the angular velocity with respect to any co-ordinate system xed on the rigid
body is always the same.

1.2 Angular Momentum of the Rigid Body

The angular momentum of the rigid body with respect to a stationary point is given
by,

~ = ~ri × p~i = mi (~ri × ~vi )

L (1.5)

where the repeated index i is summed over all the constituents of the rigid body.
As the angular speed of all the points of a rigid body is the same, i.e. ω ~ for
~i = ω
all i's, therefore,
dri
~vi = ~ i × ~ri = ω
=ω ~ × ~ri (1.6)
dt
And hence,
~ = mi [~ri × (~ω × ~ri )]
L
= mi [~ω (~ri · ~ri ) − ~ri (~ri · ω
~ )]
(1.7)
 2 
= mi ω ~ ri − ~ri (~ri · ω ~)

2
or in component forms,

mi ωx ri2 − xi (xi ωx + zi ωy + zi ωz )
 
Lx =
mi ri2 − x2i ωx − mi xi yi ωy − mi xi zi ωz (1.8)


=
= Ixx ωx + Ixy ωy + Ixz ωz , (1.9)
Ly = Iyx ωx + Iyy ωy + Iyz ωz , (1.10)
Lz = Izx ωx + Izy ωy + Izz ωz (1.11)

or in matrix form,
    
Lx Ixx Ixy Ixz ωx
Ly  = Iyx Iyy Iyz  ωy  (1.12)
Lz Izx Izy Izz ωz

with

Ixx ≡ mi ri2 − x2i , Iyy ≡ mi ri2 − yi2 , Izz ≡ mi ri2 − zi2 ,

Ixy ≡ −mi xi yi = Iyx , Iyz ≡ −mi yi zi = Izy , Izx ≡ −mi zi xi = Ixz . (1.13)

or equivalently,
~ = I~ω
L (1.14)

where I is the moment-of-inertia matrix as given above.

Finally if the rigid body is made up of very large number of particles, we may
write instead,

Z
ρ(~r) ri2 − x2i dV (1.15)


Ixx =
V

and so on.

1.3 Kinetic Energy of a Rigid Body and the Inertia Tensor

According to Chasles' theorem a rigid body motion could be described in terms of

three translations and three rotations. This means that the kinetic energy of a rigid
body will be,

1
T = Ttrans + Trot = M V 2 + Trot (φ, θ, ψ) (1.16)
2
Clearly the kinetic energy with respect to a xed point will be purely rotational

3
and is given by,
T = Trot (φ, θ, ψ)
1
= mi vi2
2
1
= mi~vi · (~ω × ~ri )
2
ω
~
= · [mi (~ri × ~vi )]
2
~ ·L
ω ~
= (1.17)
2
or using L
~ = I~ω from eq (1.14), we write,
←→
~ · I ·ω
ω ~
T = (1.18)
2
Taking n̂ to be the axis of rotation, we could express ω
~ = ωn̂ and therefore the
above equation gives,
←→
n̂ · I · n̂ 2
T = ω (1.19)
2
1 2
= Iω (1.20)
2
where,
←→
I ≡ n̂ · I · n̂
= mi ri2 − (~ri · n̂)2 (1.21)
 

←
→
is moment of inertia of the rigid body and I is the inertia tensor.
Another form of Moment of inertia could be written by substituting ~vi = ω
~ × ~ri
in kinetic energy as,
1
T = mi~vi · ~vi
2
1
= mi [(~ω × ~ri ) · (~ω × ~ri )]
2
1
= mi [(~ri × ω~ ) · (~ri × ω
~ )]
2
1
= mi [(~ri × n̂) · (~ri × n̂)] ω 2 (1.22)
2
Comparing the above equation with (1.20) we get,
2T
I = = mi [(~ri × n̂) · (~ri × n̂)] (1.23)
ω2
In component forms, we may also write (1.18) as,

4
 1
T = ωα Iαβ ωβ (1.24)
2
with the Inertia tensor,
h i
Iαβ = mi (~ri × n̂)α (~ri × n̂)β
= mi [(αab na rib ) (βcd nc rid )]
= mi αab βcd rib rid δac
= mi αab βad rib rid
= mi aαb aβd rib rid
= mi (δαβ δbd − δαd δβb ) rib rid
mi ri2 δαβ − riα riβ (1.25)


=

or for continous rigid bodies,

Z
ρ(~r) ri2 δαβ − riα riβ dV (1.26)


Iαβ =
V