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Hint 6

In the coordinate system defined by the principal axes, you should find that the rotational kinetic energy $T={1\over 2}
\hbox{{\boldmath$\omega$ }}\cdot{\bf L}$ takes the simple form

\begin{displaymath}T={1\over 2}\Bigl(I_1\omega_1^2+I_2\omega_2^2+I_3\omega_3^2\Bigr).\end{displaymath}

Differentiate this with respect to $t$ and use Euler's equations to substitute for $I_1\dot\omega_1$ etc.



Mike Birse
2000-03-31