written by Wolfgang Christian

The Free Rotation model shows the torque-free motion of a rectangular block.  The model displays a space frame view showing a constant angular momentum arrow and a body group containing a block and body-axis arrows. This model is designed for the study of torque-free precession.  The tips of the body frame axis arrows trace trajectories to illustrate stable and unstable rotation of the block about a principal axes. A second window displays the body frame view with space frame xyz-axes orbiting the block.

The Free Rotation model is a supplemental simulation for the article "It Has to Go Down a Little, in Order to Go Around" by Svilen Kostov and Daniel Hammer in The Physics Teacher 49(4), 216-219 (2011) and has been approved by the authors and The Physics Teacher editor.  The model was developed using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) modeling tool.  It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive.  Double clicking the  ejs_csm_ch17_FreeRotation.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.

• Download ejs_csm_ch17_FreeRotation.jar - 1664kb Java Archive File

Last Modified June 6, 2014

This file has previous versions.

The source code zip archive contains an XML representation of the Free Rotation model.  Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS.

• Download ejs_csm_ch17_FreeRotation.zip - 26kb Compressed File

Last Modified February 10, 2011