Euler's equations (rigid body dynamics)

Part of a series on
Classical mechanics
${\displaystyle {\textbf {F}}={\frac {d}{dt}}(m{\textbf {v}})}$ Second law of motion
History Timeline Textbooks
Branches Applied Celestial Continuum Dynamics Kinematics Kinetics Statics Statistical mechanics
Fundamentals Acceleration Angular momentum Couple D'Alembert's principle Energy kinetic potential Force Frame of reference Inertial frame of reference Impulse Inertia / Moment of inertia Mass Mechanical power Mechanical work Moment Momentum Space Speed Time Torque Velocity Virtual work
Formulations Newton's laws of motion Analytical mechanics Lagrangian mechanics Hamiltonian mechanics Routhian mechanics Hamilton–Jacobi equation Appell's equation of motion Koopman–von Neumann mechanics
Core topics Damping Displacement Equations of motion Euler's laws of motion Fictitious force Friction Harmonic oscillator Inertial / Non-inertial reference frame Mechanics of planar particle motion Motion (linear) Newton's law of universal gravitation Newton's laws of motion Relative velocity Rigid body dynamics Euler's equations Simple harmonic motion Vibration
Rotation Circular motion Rotating reference frame Centripetal force Centrifugal force reactive Coriolis force Pendulum Tangential speed Rotational frequency Angular acceleration / displacement / frequency / velocity
Scientists Kepler Galileo Huygens Newton Horrocks Halley Maupertuis Daniel Bernoulli Johann Bernoulli Euler d'Alembert Clairaut Lagrange Laplace Hamilton Poisson Cauchy Routh Liouville Appell Gibbs Koopman von Neumann
Physics portal  Category
v t e

In classical mechanics, Euler's rotation equations are a vectorial quasilinear first-order ordinary differential equation describing the rotation of a rigid body, using a rotating reference frame with angular velocity ω whose axes are fixed to the body. Their general vector form is

${\displaystyle \mathbf {I} {\dot {\boldsymbol {\omega }}}+{\boldsymbol {\omega }}\times \left(\mathbf {I} {\boldsymbol {\omega }}\right)=\mathbf {M} .}$

where M is the applied torques and I is the inertia matrix. The vector ${\displaystyle {\dot {\boldsymbol {\omega }}}}$ is the angular acceleration. Again, note that all quantities are defined in the rotating reference frame.

In orthogonal principal axes of inertia coordinates the equations become

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}I_{1}\,{\dot {\omega }}_{1}+(I_{3}-I_{2})\,\omega _{2}\,\omega _{3}&=M_{1}\\I_{2}\,{\dot {\omega }}_{2}+(I_{1}-I_{3})\,\omega _{3}\,\omega _{1}&=M_{2}\\I_{3}\,{\dot {\omega }}_{3}+(I_{2}-I_{1})\,\omega _{1}\,\omega _{2}&=M_{3}\end{aligned}}}$

where M_k are the components of the applied torques, I_k are the principal moments of inertia and ω_k are the components of the angular velocity.

In the absence of applied torques, one obtains the Euler top. When the torques are due to gravity, there are special cases when the motion of the top is integrable.