Inertia tensor of a displaced uniform ball
ID: inertia-tensor-of-a-displaced-uniform-ball
For a uniform ball of radius and positive mass , let be its centre of mass. Spherical symmetry gives the second-moment matrix , so the central inertia tensor is . The tensor parallel-axis theorem gives the displayed shifted tensor. For its eigenvector along has eigenvalue , while the two-dimensional orthogonal complement has repeated eigenvalue . Thus it is an isotropic tensor exactly at . Displacement along a chosen axis does not change that axis's moment; the transverse moments increase by .
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