Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2013 June 23

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June 23

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Kinetic energy of symmetric top in an unusual parametrization

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Suppose the orientation of the top's axis of symmetry is given by a vector   and its rotation about that axis is given by an angle  . What is the kinetic energy of the top? I can do it in the case when the inertia tensor is singular (so all the mass lies on the vector  ) but not in the more general case. Anyone got any ideas?--Leon (talk) 08:13, 23 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I must be missing something, but wouldn't it just be   where I is the moment of inertia. (I'm assuming that by angle above you mean angular speed.) Sławomir Biały (talk) 11:10, 25 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]