Euler's equations (rigid body dynamics)
Quasilinear first-order ordinary differential equation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In classical mechanics, Euler's rotation equations are a vectorial quasilinear first-order ordinary differential equation describing the rotation of a rigid body, using a rotating reference frame with angular velocity ω whose axes are fixed to the body. Their general vector form is
where M is the applied torques and I is the inertia matrix. The vector is the angular acceleration. Again, note that all quantities are defined in the rotating reference frame.
In orthogonal principal axes of inertia coordinates the equations become
where Mk are the components of the applied torques, Ik are the principal moments of inertia and ωk are the components of the angular velocity.
In the absence of applied torques, one obtains the Euler top. When the torques are due to gravity, there are special cases when the motion of the top is integrable.