The torque difference. Let now be the local angular displacement, and take and the section constant. The local twist per unit length is , so the transmitted torque is . Across a short slice,
Thus
to first order in slice length.
The slice's angular acceleration. The slice's axial moment of inertia is . Its net torque is the difference of the end torques, so
Canceling the common geometry gives the torsional waves in a solid circular rod,
For the given steel, . The radius cancels because both torsional stiffness and slice inertia contain the same . This ideal one-dimensional wave model neglects dissipation and additional elastic modes.
Induction and its sign. The Maxwell-Faraday equation is . For a fixed loop, Stokes theorem gives
This is Faraday's law of induction. The orientation of the surface normal and positive circulation are linked by the right-hand rule. The minus sign is Lenz's law: the induced current's linked flux opposes the imposed flux change, rather than reinforcing it.
The inductive current. Let the loop normal make angle with the applied field, with positive current defined by that normal. The external magnetic flux is . With negligible electrical resistance, the circuit equation is , so total linked flux is constant. For zero initial trapped flux,
The printed result needs this initial-flux assumption; in general an additional constant current is allowed. The units are amperes because a weber divided by a henry is an ampere.
Current and forces at one instant. Take along and , so relative to the chosen normal. The loop magnetic dipole moment therefore has a component opposite the applied field. Each wire element experiences Lorentz force . Opposite sides have equal and opposite forces, giving zero net force in the uniform field but a nonzero couple.
Figure 1.
Original top view of the loop's vertical sides at positive applied field; dots and crosses show vertical current, and the force pair increases the angle between normal and field
. Details.
The horizontal top and bottom wire segments also experience equal and opposite vertical forces. They cancel without adding torque about the vertical rotation axis; the displayed force pair supplies that torque.
Average torque. Since , its generalized component for increasing is . Substitution gives
and, using ,
The orientation torque on a flux-conserving loop drives its normal away from the field for the stated initial angle. Its magnitude has units joules, or newton metres.
Free motion with large inertia. Write for the mechanical moment of inertia. If its orientation changes little during each field cycle, the slow equation is , with effective potential
The stable orientation is , where the loop plane contains the applied field. Released from rest between and , the loop accelerates toward that orientation, overshoots and librates around it. In the leading averaged, undamped model its turning angles are and . It does not settle without a dissipative mechanism. For small librations the squared angular frequency is .
Negligible inductance and finite resistance. Now the current is proportional to the induced electromotive force, not to the flux. Including slow rotation,
The rotational damping of a resistive loop in an oscillating field follows from
At fixed orientation, the first term alternates at and has zero mean. The loop can therefore rock slightly, but there is no leading mean aligning torque like that in the inductive case. Slow rotation gives
which opposes motion and produces Joule heating. Initial-phase transients can initiate motion, and the instantaneous torque is not zero. This description retains the large-inertia, slow-motion approximation; it does not assert an exact stationary solution at every starting angle.
For a slender elastic beam undergoing small bending, cross-sections remain approximately plane and perpendicular to the centreline. At distance from the neutral axis, longitudinal strain is , where is curvature. Linear elasticity gives , so the bending moment has magnitude
Here is the second moment of cross-sectional area, not a mass moment of inertia. For width and depth in the bending direction, . The cubic depth dependence explains why a deep beam resists bending more effectively than the same material spread sideways.
For a uniform beam with transverse displacement , and bending energy is . Balancing transverse load yields the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation under a consistent sign convention. Supports specify values of deflection, slope, moment or shear; the equation alone does not fix the response.
Now apply a compressive end load . A small deflection shortens the axial projection by , so the total potential energy relative to the straight configuration is
Its stationary equation is
For pinned ends, and the end moments vanish, so . The candidate shapes require . The first loss of stability is consequently
At smaller , the quadratic energy is positive; beyond this threshold the straight configuration no longer minimizes it. End restraint changes the threshold: clamped–clamped gives and clamped–free gives , equivalently an effective-length correction. A column buckles in the direction of smaller flexural rigidity. Euler buckling is a geometric instability within elastic response; yielding or crushing can occur first for a short thick strut. Large deflections, shear deformation and imperfections require refinements of the ideal slender-beam model.
Let be each sphere's moment of inertia about the fibre, and let be the common fibre filament torsional stiffness, so a length exerts restoring torque . The single-sphere torsion pendulum obeys
For the two coupled torsional pendulums, the upper fibre has twist and the joining fibre has relative twist . The joining fibre exerts equal and opposite torques on the two spheres:
Using the measured gives
The fibre's own rotational inertia and damping are neglected, so its twists supply elastic torques without additional dynamic coordinates.
As , the short joining fibre is very stiff and the lower normal mode has . The spheres therefore behave as one torsional load with combined moment of inertia , suspended by the upper fibre of torsion constant . Its angular frequency satisfies
The high-frequency opposite-twist mode costs increasingly large elastic energy and moves to arbitrarily high frequency in the massless-fibre model.
As , the joining fibre is very compliant. In the higher normal mode the lower sphere scarcely moves: the amplitude ratio tends to . The upper sphere approaches the original single torsion pendulum, giving
The other mode is then a slow twist of the almost freely suspended lower sphere. These interpretations assume the formal limits do not invalidate the thin massless-fibre approximation.
For a slender elastic beam, the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation assumes small strain, small deflection slopes and cross-sections that remain plane and normal to the deflected centreline. A fibre at signed distance from the neutral axis has longitudinal strain , where is the centreline curvature. Hooke's law gives , with Young's modulus .
Choose the internal bending-moment sign so that . Then
Here is the second moment of area, with units , not the mass moment of inertia of a rotating body. For a uniform material under pure bending, zero axial resultant places the neutral axis through the section's centroid.
For small slopes, . Combining the moment-curvature relation with transverse force and moment balance gives, with a consistent load sign convention,
For constant stiffness this becomes . The bending stiffness has units . Boundary conditions specify displacement and slope at a clamped end, or bending moment and shear force at a free end.
For a cantilever of length carrying a transverse end load , take deflection positive towards the load. The moment magnitude is , and integration with gives
The free-end moment vanishes and the tip shear supplies the applied load. For a rectangular section of width and bending thickness , , so increasing thickness strongly increases bending resistance. The model ceases to be reliable for large deflections, plastic strains or short thick beams where shear deformation matters.
For the supplied linear rigid rotor spectrum, sum over every nonnegative integer and include all magnetic substates:
It is convenient to introduce the rotational temperature
so that the first terms are . Here is the moment of inertia and is the reduced Planck constant, as confirmed in the original PDF. The stipulated degeneracies are used as given, without adding nuclear-spin weights or omitting selected values.
Using gives
The internal-energy identity from (b), followed by differentiation with respect to temperature at fixed moment of inertia, yields
For one mole of independent rotors, the rotational energy is and the rotational molar heat capacity is .
This agrees with the equipartition theorem. The given spectrum describes a linear rotor with two independent rotational degrees of freedom, each contributing to the high-temperature mean energy. Rotation about the molecular axis is not an additional degree of freedom of this ideal linear-rotor model, so the result is rather than per rotor. These are rotational contributions alone; translational and vibrational heat capacities have not been included. At low temperature the discrete excitation gap freezes rotational excitation out, so the rotational heat capacity tends to zero instead of remaining at its classical value.
For a thin gyrocompass flywheel with rotational symmetry, the perpendicular axis theorem gives . This does not require the mass to be concentrated at the rim. Convert the specified spin to angular velocity and use one sidereal day for Earth's rotation:
At the given latitude,
The associated oscillation period is . This uses the stated neglect of the support assembly's contribution to the moment of inertia; a substantial additional vertical moment of inertia would lengthen the oscillation period.
The bending moment is the internal torque transmitted across a cut through an elastic beam, about the transverse bending axis. It balances the moments of the external forces on the isolated portion on one side of the cut. Its sign depends on the chosen convention, and its units are .
The relevant “moment of area” is the second moment of area of the cross-section about its neutral axis:
where is perpendicular distance from that axis within the section. It has units and is a geometrical quantity, unlike a mass moment of inertia. For a homogeneous beam under pure bending, the neutral axis passes through the section's centroid, and its longitudinal strain is zero.
The moment of inertia about an axis is . The parallel axis theorem states , where a is the perpendicular separation from a parallel axis through the centre of mass, and M is total mass.
Since , the density coefficient has units . The density-power cylindrical moment of inertia follows from cylindrical shells:
For an offset pivot, the physical pendulum equation is . At small amplitude,
For the minimum-period offset of a physical pendulum, minimizing is equivalent to minimizing . Its derivative vanishes at
The second derivative is positive. The period diverges as near zero and grows as for large offset, giving one minimum. This assumes the stated ideal pivot can pass inside the body; an externally constrained pivot would restrict the allowable a. [ref]
Convert both radii to metres before evaluating the moment of inertia:
Its linear differential is
For independent standard uncertainties, add the three contributions in quadrature:
If the quoted errors are instead bounds, their first-order absolute contributions add, giving . Their statistical interpretation is not specified; the two conventions should remain distinct.
For a fixed rotation axis with constant moment of inertia, the axial torque obeys , with . For a point mass at radius , the tangential equation is ; multiplying by gives , as required. Radial forces have zero moment about the axis.
Take increasing in the direction of the clapper's initial fall and let the contact force oppose that tangential motion. Initial equilibrium of the clapper gives
While contact persists the bell and clapper rotate together. Their respective offsets from the upward vertical are and . Summing external gravitational moments eliminates their internal contact force:
The clapper alone satisfies . Hence for ,
A nonadhesive contact cannot exert tension. The first zero of this expression on the released trajectory is the loss-of-contact angle. Write . Then
The second-quadrant root is reached from ; selecting the principal negative arctangent would choose the wrong branch. Indeed the exact contact force before taking is , so its zero is unchanged.
Take positive when the hanging mass descends and the other mass moves uphill. For the sliding block, Newton's second law gives and . Therefore
For the pulley coupled to a rolling disc, tension and weight act through its centre; the contact normal is perpendicular to the slope. Static friction provides the torque required for rolling without slipping. Define signed down the slope, so for uphill acceleration.
Figure 1.
Original force diagram for an uphill-accelerating disc: centre-applied tension and weight, contact normal and downslope static friction
. Details.
The rotational equation and rolling constraint give , hence . The translational equations become and , giving
Thus the threshold remains : the moment of inertia increases the effective mass but does not change the sign of the driving force. For downhill acceleration reverses. The normal force is ; static friction does no work at the stationary contact point and sufficient roughness is assumed.
About a specified axis, the moment of inertia is , giving rotational kinetic energy for fixed-axis rotation. With square coordinates centred on the plate,
The in-plane inertia isotropy of a square plate follows using the perpendicular axis theorem, which gives . For any in-plane central axis at angle , the perpendicular in-plane axis has the same inertia by the square's rotational symmetry. Their sum is , so every such in-plane axis has .
The parallel axis theorem gives hinge inertia . During the short impulse gravity is negligible, and the hinge impulse has no moment about the hinge. Therefore
The hinge impulse of an edge-pivoted square plate follows from linear momentum: . Taking its positive direction to be that of the applied impulse,
Generally alone does not supply the centre-of-mass momentum compatible with rotation about the fixed hinge, so the hinge supplies the difference. Its impulse vanishes at the centre of percussion,
The moment of inertia about a specified axis is , where is perpendicular distance from the axis. The parallel axis theorem states for two parallel axes separated by , one passing through the centre of mass of a body of mass .
It is easiest to calculate the eccentric disc by subtraction. Let be the mass of the unperforated disc and the removed mass. Uniform thickness and density give and , hence and . The hole is tangent to the rim, so its centre, and therefore the shaft axis, lies from the original disc centre. About the shaft axis,
The shaft contributes . Thus
The motor's torque is at nonzero angular velocity, while the resisting torque is . The rotational equation of motion and its equivalent energy balance are
At the steady state, input power equals dissipated power, giving
For the acceleration, use . Then with , so
The approach to takes infinite time. This constant-power rotational acceleration idealizes the start: diverges at rest, although the energy balance has a well-defined limiting solution. A real motor has finite starting torque.
Directions. Choose along the horizontal spindle from the pivot to the disk, and vertically upward. With lever arm and weight , the torque about the pivot is
Clockwise precession viewed from above has . The relation therefore requires the spin angular momentum to point along , from the disk toward the pivot. The disk spins clockwise when viewed from its outer face looking along the spindle toward the pivot. Looking from the pivot reverses that apparent rotation. The right-hand rule fixes these signs unambiguously.
Figure 1.
Top-view torque and angular-momentum directions, with the disk's spin viewed from its outer face
. Details.
The drawing shows an instantaneous top view; the disk's angular momentum and the horizontal spindle turn clockwise together. The pivot force has zero torque about the pivot.
Rate of precession. For steady horizontal motion the spin contribution has magnitude and turns through in time . Its change is perpendicular to itself and has magnitude . Hence
This is the usual slow steady gyroscope precession relation. Any constant vertical angular momentum associated with steady precession has zero time derivative; the horizontal spin contribution supplies the changing component here. Transient nutation is excluded by the prescribed horizontal steady motion.
Clock design. Convert both rotation rates to angular frequencies:
For the moment of inertia of a uniform disc, , so the mass cancels:
Spin friction. At fixed geometry, reducing increases . The precession period, , therefore decreases. This trend holds while slow steady precession remains a suitable description; it cannot be extrapolated to a stopped disk.
Counterweight. To oppose the disk's gravitational torque, place the counterweight on the other side of the pivot, at . The net torque is
A horizontal axle can remain fixed when this vanishes, giving
For the fixed spin direction already found, counterbalanced gyroscope precession has signed rate
Moving the counterweight outward from the pivot first slows the clockwise motion, eliminates its driving torque at balance, and then reverses the steady motion to counterclockwise. A counterweight on the disk's side would add to the gravitational torque. These statements neglect axial spin moment of inertia of the counterweight and assume the stated horizontal motion, without a separately imposed precession at balance.
Definitions. The torque of a force about an origin is , where runs from that origin to the force's point of application. Its component about a fixed axis changes angular momentum about that axis. The moment of inertia about that axis is
where is perpendicular distance to the axis. It measures resistance to angular acceleration; for fixed-axis rigid rotation, . The units are for torque and for moment of inertia.
Mass and axial inertia. Slice the shaft perpendicular to its common axis. A slice of radius has mass and moment of inertia , using the moment of inertia of a uniform disc. Thus the axial moment of inertia of a solid of revolution uses the second and fourth powers of its radius:
For the tapered section, take from its narrow end toward its wide end, so for . Its contributions are
The two cylinders contribute and to mass, and and to moment of inertia. Adding the three sections gives
All slice rotation axes coincide with the shaft axis, so the moments add directly.
Frictional torque. The normal load on the narrow circular end is . With the stipulated uniform pressure, . A contact annulus of radius and width has area , normal force and tangential kinetic friction . Multiplying by its lever arm and integrating gives the uniform-pressure friction torque on a circular contact:
Here is the positive magnitude; its torque opposes the angular velocity.
Steady speed and stopping rotations. Mechanical power in rotation is . At steady angular velocity, the driving and frictional torques balance, so constant-power rotation against dry friction gives
Using and ,
Once the motor is removed, the speed-independent kinetic friction gives constant angular acceleration . Equivalently, the initial rotational kinetic energy is dissipated as frictional work. The stopping angle under constant resisting torque is therefore
The total angular displacement corresponds to
Hence the shaft completes
and then another of a rotation. Its stopping time is . Using the rounded value changes the fractional rotation slightly but leaves four complete rotations.
Translation and rotation. For particles constituting a rigid body, the total linear momentum is
Thus the total external force governs the motion of the centre of mass. About that centre of mass, the angular momentum and applied torque are
where primes denote relative positions and velocities. The derivative of the vector is taken relative to nonrotating axes. The inertia tensor relates angular momentum to angular velocity, . For rotation about a fixed unit direction , the moment of inertia is ; it measures the resistance to changing that rotation and gives rotational kinetic energy . The simpler vector relation applies when the rotation axis is a principal axis, not for every orientation of an arbitrary rigid body. These translational and rotational balances must be applied together; a nonzero torque does not replace the net-force equation.
Gyroscope precession. A rapidly spinning gyroscope has a large angular momentum approximately along its spin axis. The torque component parallel to this vector changes its magnitude, while the perpendicular component turns its direction. If the vector undergoes precession with angular velocity , then over its change is the infinitesimal rotation . Hence
This describes direction-changing precession at constant ; any spin-up contribution must be added separately. For perpendicular torque and angular momentum, the precessional component perpendicular to is . The familiar tendency of a supported gyroscope to turn sideways is this vector balance, not the absence of gravitational force.
Wheel-lift threshold without the flywheel. Let be the centre of mass height, half the wheel separation, and the bend radius. The required inward force is , provided by static friction. Let be the summed outer and inner wheel normal forces. Vertical balance gives . Moment balance about the centre of mass gives
The inner wheels lift when . Thus the vehicle rollover threshold is
The stated mass cancels. This assumes the rigid geometry and sufficient static friction specified in the paper; the threshold is set by loss of contact, not by sliding.
Engine flywheel. The moment of inertia of a uniform disc gives
Its spin angular speed, spin angular momentum, and turn angular speed at are
The transverse flywheel axis is perpendicular to the vertical turn axis, so
To specify its direction, use right-handed axes forward, to the car's left, and upward, and consider a left turn. Then . Choose the flywheel angular momentum to the car's right, . The car must apply
to obtain the required precession. This gyroscopic roll torque in a turning vehicle opposes the outward roll tendency in a left turn. By the right-hand rule, the flywheel must turn counterclockwise viewed from the car's right side toward its centre, opposite to the rotation of wheels rolling forward. Reversing flywheel spin would aggravate the outward roll. Reversing the turn reverses both roll and gyroscopic torques, so the same flywheel spin remains helpful.
Figure 1.
Gyroscope vector directions for a left-turning car and the flywheel spin needed to oppose outward roll
. Details.
For comparison, the outward inertial roll moment at the stated speed is , and the limiting gravitational restoring moment is . The gyroscopic reaction is about of the former and of the latter, so it is appreciable for this large flywheel. If this ideal model is extended to include the favorable gyroscopic reaction in the wheel-lift condition, it gives , or about rather than . This quantifies a useful but finite increase in the rollover threshold.
Let denote the moment of inertia normal to the disc and that about any central diameter. Rotational symmetry makes the two perpendicular diameter values equal. By the perpendicular axis theorem, . The intended angular impulse has magnitude ; delivering that magnitude about a diameter instead gives . Thus
These are principal axes, so angular momentum is parallel to angular velocity in both cases. Equal delivered angular impulse means equal magnitude of the change in angular momentum, not equal rotational kinetic energy; the actual rotational kinetic energy is twice the intended value.