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A Lagrange top is a rigid body that is symmetric about a principal axis, has a point on that axis fixed in space, and has its center of mass on the same axis while gravity acts uniformly. Here $I_1=I_2$ is the transverse principal moment of inertia about the fixed point, $I_3$ is the moment about the symmetry axis, $M$ is the total mass, and $l$ is the distance from the fixed point to the center of mass.

The Euler angles for a symmetric top use $\theta$ for inclination, $\varphi$ for precession, and $\psi$ for spin about the body axis. Since $\psi$ is a cyclic coordinate, its generalized momentumis conserved. The coordinate $\varphi$ is also cyclic, sois a second integral. Finally, the Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, and conservation of energy from time-translation invariance gives the independent integral

For steady precession set $\theta$ constant and $\dot{\varphi }=\Omega$ constant. The $\theta$ Euler-Lagrange equation, with $0<\theta <\pi /2$, reduces after division by $\sin \theta$ toThis quadratic has a real precession rate precisely when its quadratic discriminant is nonnegative. Hence Steady precession of a Lagrange top is possible if and only if

Let $q=(q_1,q_2,q_3)$ and $n=(1,1,1)$. Sincethe Lagrangian depends on $q$ only through $|q{|}^2$ and $(q\cdot n{)}^2$, and on the velocity through $|\dot{q}{|}^2$. Rotations about the $n$-axis preserve all three quantities, proving the invariance.

The axially symmetric isotropic-mass Lagrangian therefore conserves the axial angular momentumup to an irrelevant normalization of $n$. Since $L$ has no explicit time dependence, conservation of energy from time-translation invariance gives the second conserved quantity