1131
21–22.
If a body contains no planes of symmetry,the principal
moments of inertia can be determined mathematically.To
show how this is done,consider the rigid body which is
spinning with an angular velocity ,directed along one of its
principal axes of inertia. If the principal moment of inertia
about this axis is I,the angular momentum can be expressed
as .The components of H
may also be expressed by Eqs.21–10, where the inertia tensor
is assumed to be known. Equate the i,j,and kcomponents of
both expressions for Hand consider ,,and to be
unknown. The solution of these three equations is obtained
provided the determinant of the coefficients is zero.Show
that this determinant, when expanded, yields the cubic
equation
The three positive roots of I, obtained from the solution of
this equation, represent the principal moments of inertia
,,and .Iz
Iy
Ix
–IyyI2
zx –IzzI2
xy)=0
–(IxxIyyIzz –2IxyIyzIzx –IxxI2
yz
+(IxxIyy +IyyIzz +IzzIxx –I2
xy –I2
yz –I2
zx)I
I3–(Ixx +Iyy +Izz)I2
vz
vy
vx
H=IV=Ivxi+Ivyj+Ivzk
V
SOLUTION
Equating the i,j,kcomponents to the scalar equations (Eq. 21–10) yields
Solution for ,,and requires
Expanding
Q.E.D.–
A
Ixx Iyy Izz –2Ixy Iyz Izx –Ixx I2
yz –IyyI2
zx –Izz I2
xy
B
=0
I3–(Ixx +Iyy +Izz)I2+
A
Ixx Iyy +Iyy Izz +Izz Ixx –I2
xy –I2
yz –I2
zx
B
I
3(Ixx –I)–Ixy –Ixz
–Iyx (Iyy –I)–Iyz
–Izx –Izy (Izz –I)3=0
vz
vy
vx
–Izx vz–Izy vy+(Izz –I)vz=0
–Ixx vx+(Ixy –I)vy–Iyz vz=0
(Ixx –I)vx–Ixy vy–Ixz vz=0
H=Iv=Ivxi+Ivyj+Ivzk
y
V
z
x
O