written by Wolfgang Christian

The Rotation About a Fixed Axis example computes the angular momentum of a rigid rectangular box attached to a rotating axle.  The fixed axis is in the z-direction.  Users can tilt the box relative to the axle and can change the box dimensions.  The simulation shows that the angular momentum vector L is not aligned with the the angular velocity vector unless the box is rotating about an axis parallel to a box edge.  The simulation also shows the torque N that must be applied to the axle to maintain its fixed orientation.  Additional windows display the frame-dependent tensor algebra in an inertial reference frame fixed in space and in a non-inertial reference frame attached to the rotating box with a rotation axis parallel to a box edge.

The Rotation About A Fixed Axle 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_RotationAboutFixedAxis.jar file will run the program if Java is installed.

• Download ejs_csm_ch17_RotationAboutFixedAxis.jar - 1607kb Java Archive File

Last Modified June 12, 2014

This file has previous versions.

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

• Download ejs_csm_ch17_RotationAboutFixedAxis.zip - 14kb Compressed File

Last Modified April 1, 2011