Mechanics

Physics 151
Lecture 8
Rigid Body Motion
(Chapter 4)

What We Did Last Time

!

Discussed scattering problem

!

Defined and calculated cross sections

!
!

Foundation for all experimental physics

Differential cross section and impact parameter
Rutherford scattering
( ) =

Translated into laboratory system

!
!

N hits = I

Angular translation + Jacobian

Shape of () changes

s ds
sin d

Goals For Today

!

Start discussing rigid-body motion

!

Concentrate on representing the rotation

!
!
!

Multi-particle system with fixed shape

Which generalized coordinates should we use?
Define Euler angles
Define infinitesimal rotation
! Will use this for angular velocities, etc

Todays lecture is largely mathematical

!

Assume knowledge of linear algebra

Rigid Body
!

Multi-particle system with fixed distances

!

Constraints: rij = ri r j = const for all i, j

How should we define generalized coordinates?

!
!

How many independent coordinates are there?

If you start from 3N and subtract the number of constraints

N ( N 1) 7 N N 2
3N
=
2
2

0 for N 7

Not all the constraints are independent

!

Right answer: 3 translation and 3 rotation = 6

Todays theme

2-D Rotation
!

2-dimensional rotation is specified by a 22 matrix

x cos sin x
=

y
sin

cos

y
i i i j x
=

j
i
j
j

y
!

Try the same thing with 3-d rotation

z
y

z
y
x

y
j

i
x

x
i

3D Rotation
!

Vector r is represented in x-y-z and x-y-z as

r = xi + yj + zk = xi + yj + z k
!

Using angles ij between two axes

x = r i = xi i + yj i + zk i

= cos 11 x + cos 12 y + cos 13 z

z
z 13

y = cos 21 x + cos 22 y + cos 23 z

z = cos 31 x + cos 32 y + cos 33 z

x cos 11 cos 12
or y = cos 21 cos 22
z cos 31 cos 32

cos 13 x
cos 23 y
cos 33 z

11

12
x

3D Rotation
!

Simplify formulae by renaming

( x, y, z ) ( x1 , x2 , x3 ) ( x, y, z ) ( x1, x2 , x3 )
!

Rotation is now expressed by

xi = cos ij x j = aij x j = aij x j
j

Einstein convention:
Implicit summation over repeated index
!

We got 9 parameters aij to describe a 3-d rotation

!

Only 3 are independent

Constraints of Rotation
!

Rotation cannot change the length of any vector

!

Exactly the constraints we need for rigid body motion

r 2 = xi xi = xixi
!

Using the transformation matrix

xi = aij x j
xixi = aij x j aik xk
therefore

1 ( j = k )
aij aik = jk
0 ( j k )

Matrix A = [aij] is orthogonal

! =1
AA
Transpose of A

6 conditions
reduces free
parameters
from 9 to 3

Orthogonal Matrix
!

a11
A = a21
a31

a12
a22
a32

a13
a23
a33

Goldstein Section 4.3 covers algebra of matrices

You must have learned this already

aij aik = jk
!
! Orthogonal matrix A satisfies AA = 1
! Consider the determinants
Transposed matrix
2
!
!
AA = A A = A = 1
A = 1
!

!
!

|A| = +1 " proper matrix

|A| = 1 " improper matrix

Space Inversion
!

Space inversion is represented by

1 0 0
r = r = Sr 0 1 0 r
0 0 1
!
!

S = 1

S is orthogonal Doesnt change distances

But it cannot be a rotation
! Coordinate axes invert to become left-handed
! Orthogonal matrices with |A| = 1 does this

Rigid body rotation is represented by proper

orthogonal matrices

Rotation Matrix
!

A operating on r can be interpreted as

!

Rotating r around an axis by an angle

! Positive angle = clockwise rotation
Rotating the coordinate axes around the same axis by the
same angle in the opposite direction
! Positive angle = counter clockwise rotation

Both interpretations are useful

!

We are more interested in the latter for now

How do we write A with 3 parameters?

!

r = Ar

There are many ways

Euler Angles
!

Transform x-y-z to x-y-z in 3 steps

( x, y , z )

Rotate CCW by around z axis

( , , )

( , , )

Rotate CCW by around axis

( x, y, z)

Rotate CCW by around axis

Dx

CDx

Ax = BCDx
z y

Euler Angles
cos
D = sin
0

sin
cos
0

0
0
1
0 C = 0 cos
0 sin
1

cos cos cos sin sin

A = sin cos cos sin cos

sin sin
!

0
cos
sin B = sin
0
cos

sin
cos

cos sin + cos cos sin

sin sin + cos cos cos
sin cos

Definition of Euler angles is somewhat arbitrary

!
!

May rotate around different axes in different order

Many conventions exist Watch out!

0
0
1

sin sin
cos sin
cos

Rigid Body Motion

!

Motion of a rigid body can be described by:

!

!
!

Define x-y-z axes (body axes) attached to the rigid body

! Same direction as x-y-z (space axes) at t = 0
! Origin fixed at one point of the rigid body (e.g. CoM)
Use R(t) to describe the motion of the origin
Use A(t) to describe the rotation of the x-y-z axes
! Use Euler angles (t), (t), (t)
! A(0) = 1 " (0) = (0) = (0) = 0

6 independent coordinates (x, y, z, , , )

Eulers Theorem
The general displacement of a rigid body with
one point fixed is a rotation about some axis
!

In other words
!
!

Arbitrary 3-d rotation equals to one rotation around an axis

Any 3-d rotation leaves one vector unchanged

For any rotation matrix A

!
!

There exists a vector r that satisfies Ar = r

A has an eigenvalue of 1
Eigenvector with
eigenvalue 1

Eulers Theorem
!

If a matrix A satisfies Ar = r
( A 1)r = 0
A 1 = 0 or r = 0 or A - 1 = 0

!
Since A 1 = A
! = 1 A
!
( A 1) A
! = 1 A
!
A 1 A

A 1 = 1 A
!

For odd-dimensioned matrices M = M

A 1 = A 1 = 0
Q.E.D.

Rotation Vector?
!

Eulers theorem provides another way of describing

3-d rotation
!
!

Direction of axis (2 parameters) and angle of rotation (1)

It sounds a bit like angular momentum

Critical difference: commutativity

!

Angular momentum is a vector

! Two angular momenta can be added in any order
Rotation is not a vector
! Two rotations add up differently depending on which
rotation is made first

Infinitesimal Rotation
!

Small (infinitesimal) rotations are commutative

!
!

They can be represented by vectors

We also need them to describe how a rigid body changes
orientation with time

Infinitesimal rotation must be close to non-rotation

xi = xi + ij x j or x = (1 + )x
!

ij " 1

Two successive infinitesimal rotations make

(1 + 1 )(1 + 2 ) = 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 2
2nd order of vanishes

= 1 + 1 + 2
! Obviously commutative

Infinitesimal Rotation
!

Inverse of an infinitesimal rotation is

(1 + ) 1 = 1
!

!
Using A 1 = A

! =
!

(1 + )(1 ) = 1 + = 1
1 + ! = 1
is antisymmetric

We can write as

0
= d 3
d 2

d 3
0

d 1

d 2
d 1
0

d = (d 1 , d 2 , d 3 )
behaves almost like a
vector
Well see

Infinitesimal Rotation
!

A vector r is rotated by (1 + ) as r = (1 + )r
d 3 d 2 x1
0
dr r r = r = d 3
d 1 x2 = r d
0
d 2 d 1
0 x3
! Eulers theorem says this equals to a
n
d
rotation by an infinitesimal angle d
around an axis n
dr = r nd
d = nd

dr

Axial Vector
!

d behaves pretty much like a vector

!

d rotates the same way as r with coordinate rotations

Space inversion S reveals difference

!
!

Ordinary vector flips r = Sr = r

d doesnt
(dr ) = r d

d = d

= dr = r d = r d
!

Such a vector is called an axial vector

!

Examples: angular momentum, magnetic field

Parity
!

Parity operator P represents space inversion

P
( x, y, z ) ( x, y, z )
Quantity

Parity

Eigenvalue

Scalar

PS = S

+1

Pseudoscalar PS* = S*

Vector

PV = V

Axial vector

PV* = V*

+1

V V = V*

V V* = V

S *V = V*

V V* = S *

V* V* = S

S *V* = V

etc.

Summary
!

Discussed 3-dimensional rotation

!

Looked for ways to describe 3-d rotation

!
!

Euler angles one of the many possibilities

Eulers theorem

Defined infinitesimal rotation d

!
!

Preparation for rigid body motion

! Movement in 3-d + Rotation in 3-d = 6 coordinates

Commutative (unlike finite rotation)

Behaves as an axial vector (like angular momentum)

Ready to go back to physics