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A principal body frame is an orthonormal basis ${\mathbf{e}}_a(t)$ fixed in the rotating body and aligned with its principal axes. If $R(t)$ is the rotation matrix whose columns are these vectors, differentiating $R^{T}R=I$ shows that $\dot{R}{R}^T$ is skew-symmetric. Every skew-symmetric linear map in three dimensions is cross product with a unique vector $\mathbf{\omega }$, so

For any vector $\mathbf{A}=A_a{\mathbf{e}}_a$,Applying this to the conserved angular momentumgives the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body:

Multiplying these equations respectively by ${\omega }_i$ and summing proves conservation of kinetic energy; multiplying by $I_i{\omega }_i$ and summing proves conservation of squared angular momentum. Thus the torque-free rigid-body invariants areSolving these two linear equations for the first two squared components givesUsing $I_3{\dot{\omega }}_3=(I_1-I_2){\omega }_1{\omega }_2$ yields the quartic equation for one component of torque-free angular velocity:

Let $e_1,e_2,e_3$ be a principal body frame, let $I_1,I_2,I_3$ be the corresponding principal moments of inertia, and write the angular velocity as $\mathbf{\omega }={\sum }_i{\omega }_i{e}_i$. The body-frame components of the angular momentum areNo external torque acts, so $\mathbf{L}$ is constant in the fixed space frame. Since a body-fixed basis vector satisfies ${\dot{e}}_i=\mathbf{\omega }\times e_i$,Taking body-frame components gives the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body:

Let $R$ be the center of mass and $g$ the uniform gravitational acceleration. The gravitational torque about $R$ is

Choose body-fixed principal axes of inertia. The inertial derivative of the angular momentum isFor torque-free motion $N=0$ and $L_i=I_i{\omega }_i$, giving the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body

For a symmetric top, let $I_1=I_2=I$ and let $I_3$ be the axial moment. Then ${\omega }_3$ is constant andThus ${\omega }_1^2+{\omega }_2^2$ is constant and the transverse angular-velocity vector rotates uniformly about the body symmetry axis. Its rate is $|\Omega |$; it precesses in the positive axial sense when $(I_3-I){\omega }_3>0$ and in the opposite sense when this product is negative.

A fixed space frame is an inertial orthonormal frame whose axes remain fixed in space. A principal body frame is attached to the rigid body and aligned with the principal axes of its inertia tensor, so that the tensor is diagonal with entries $I_1,I_2,I_3$.

If $e_i(t)$ are the body axes and $\omega$ is the angular velocity, then the derivative of a body-fixed basis vector isIn the principal frame,For torque-free motion, the angular momentum has zero space derivative. ThereforeTaking body-frame components gives the Euler equations for a torque-free rigid body:

For an axisymmetric body, put $I_1=I_2=I$ and let $e_3$ be its symmetry axis. Decompose $\omega ={\omega }_1{e}_1+{\omega }_2{e}_2+{\omega }_3{e}_3$. ThenThus $L$ is a linear combination of $\omega$ and $e_3$, proving that the angular momentum, angular velocity, and symmetry axis are always coplanar. This is the coplanarity in a torque-free axisymmetric rigid body.