Forest UCM RBM

Rigid Body Motion

Rigid Body

Rigidy Body

A Rigid Body is a system involving a large number of point masses, called particles, whose distances between pairs of point particles remains constant even when the body is in motion or being acted upon by external force.

Forces of Constraint

The internal forces that maintain the constant distances between the different pairs of point masses.

Consider a rigid body that rotates about a fixed z-axis. The rotational position of the body is specified by an angle [math]\displaystyle{ \theta }[/math] that is drawn between the line OA on the body and the x-axis.

INSERT PICTURE HERE

Let

[math]\displaystyle{ m_k = }[/math] the kth mass of a particle located at the distance [math]\displaystyle{ \vec {R}_k }[/math], from the origin, and moving with the velocity [math]\displaystyle{ \vec{v}_k }[/math] and angular velocity [math]\displaystyle{ \omega }[/math]. \psi represents the angle the point mass [math]\displaystyle{ m_k }[/math] makes with the line OA used as a reference point for the rotation angle [math]\displaystyle{ \theta }[/math] of the rigid body.

The particle moves about the rotation axis in a circle of radius

[math]\displaystyle{ r_k =\sqrt{x_k^2 +y_k} }[/math]

Forest_Ugrad_ClassicalMechanics#Rigid_Body_Motion