Past exam of the options II course of the University of Oxford / 2012 / H / H2 / c / Solution

Write $r=(x_1,x_2,x_3{)}^T$ for position relative to the centroid. The inertia tensor there isIn particular its diagonal entries integrate the squares of distances from the corresponding axes, and its off-diagonal entries are the negative products of coordinates.

Insert ${\mathbf{v}}_Q={\mathbf{v}}_G+\mathbf{\omega }\times r$ into $T=\frac{1}{2}{\int }_A\rho |{\mathbf{v}}_Q{|}^{2}dV$. The cross term vanishes because ${\int }_A\rho rdV=0$. Using $|\mathbf{\omega }\times r{|}^2=|\mathbf{\omega }{|}^2|r{|}^2-(\mathbf{\omega }\cdot r{)}^2$ givesIf $a$ is the vector from $G$ to $O$, positions relative to $O$ are $r-a$. Expanding the defining tensor integral with this substitution again removes the terms linear in $r$. Thus the tensor parallel axis theorem isSince $O$ is fixed, ${\mathbf{v}}_G=\mathbf{\omega }\times (-a)$, so $m|{\mathbf{v}}_G{|}^2=m{\mathbf{\omega }}^T(|a{|}^{2}I-a{a}^T)\mathbf{\omega }$. Substitution into the energy decomposition yields