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Question 5

Determine the principal axes and principal moments of inertia of

(a) the rectangular plate in question 2, for rotations about a corner,

(b) the brick in question 3, for rotations about its centre of mass,

(c) a uniform cube of mass $M$ with edges of length $a$, for rotations about the midpoint of one of its edges.

[In some of these cases you should be able to find the directions of the principal axes without diagonalising any matrices.]

[Hints can be found here, but do not follow this link until you have attempted the question on your own.]



Mike Birse
2000-03-31