Moment of inertia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samuel Dixon uses the moment of inertia of the long rod to help maintain balance as he crosses the Niagara
river (1890).

A flywheel is a wheel with a large moment of inertia used to smooth out motion in machines. This example is
in a Russian museum.

Moment of inertia is the mass property of a rigid body that determines the torque
needed for a desired angular accelerationabout an axis of rotation. Moment of inertia
depends on the shape of the body and may be different around different axes of
rotation. A larger moment of inertia around a given axis requires more torque to
increase the rotation, or to stop the rotation, of a body about that axis. Moment of
inertia depends on the amount and distribution of its mass, and can be found through
the sum of moments of inertia of the masses making up the whole object, under the
same conditions. For example, ifma + mb = mc, then Ia + Ib = Ic. In classical
mechanics, moment of inertia may also be called mass moment of
inertia,rotational inertia, polar moment of inertia, or the angular mass.

For planar movement of a body, the trajectories of all of its points lie in parallel
planes, and the rotation occurs only about an axis perpendicular to this plane. In this
case, the body has a single moment of inertia, which is measured around this axis.
For spatial movement of a body, the moment of inertia is defined by its symmetric
3 3 inertia matrix. The inertia matrix is often described as a
symmetric rank two tensor, having six independent components. The inertia matrix
includes off-diagonal terms called products of inertia that couple torque around one
axis to angular acceleration about another axis. Each body has a set of mutually
perpendicular axes, called principal axes, for which the off-diagonal terms of the
inertia matrix are zero, and a torque around a principal axis only affects the
acceleration about that axis.

Contents

1 Introduction
2 Definition
3 Simple pendulum
4 Compound pendulum
4.1 Centre of oscillation
5 Measuring moment of inertia
6 Calculating moment of inertia about an axis
6.1 Example calculation of moment of inertia
7 Moment of inertia in planar movement of a rigid body
7.1 Angular momentum in planar movement
7.2 Kinetic energy in planar movement
7.3 Newton's laws for planar movement
8 The inertia matrix for spatial movement of a rigid body
8.1 Angular momentum
8.2 Kinetic energy
8.3 Resultant torque
8.4 Parallel axis theorem
9 The inertia matrix and the scalar moment of inertia around an arbitrary axis
10 The inertia tensor
10.1 Identities for a skew-symmetric matrix
11 The inertia matrix in different reference frames
11.1 Body frame inertia matrix
11.2 Principal axes
11.3 Inertia ellipsoid
12 See also
13 References

14 External links

Introduction
When a body is rotating around an axis, a torque must be applied to change its angular
momentum. The amount of torque needed for any given change in angular momentum
is proportional to the size of that change. Moment of inertia may be expressed in
terms of kilogram-square metres (kgm2) in SI units and pound-square feet (lbmft2)
in imperial or US units.
In 1673 Christiaan Huygens introduced this parameter in his study of the oscillation of
a body hanging from a pivot, known as a compound pendulum.[1] The termmoment of
inertia was introduced by Leonhard Euler in his book Theoria motus corporum
solidorum seu rigidorum in 1765,[1][2] and it is incorporated into Euler's second law.
The natural frequency of oscillation of a compound pendulum is obtained from the
ratio of the torque imposed by gravity on the mass of the pendulum to the resistance to
acceleration defined by the moment of inertia. Comparison of this natural frequency
to that of a simple pendulum consisting of a single point of mass provides a
mathematical formulation for moment of inertia of an extended body.[3][4]
Moment of inertia also appears in momentum, kinetic energy, and in Newton's laws of
motion for a rigid body as a physical parameter that combines its shape and mass.
There is an interesting difference in the way moment of inertia appears in planar and
spatial movement. Planar movement has a single scalar that defines the moment of
inertia, while for spatial movement the same calculations yield a 3 3 matrix of
moments of inertia, called the inertia matrix or inertia tensor.[5][6]
The moment of inertia of a rotating flywheel is used in a machine to resist variations
in applied torque to smooth its rotational output. The moment of inertia of an airplane
about its longitudinal, horizontal and vertical axes determines how steering forces on
the control surfaces of its wings, elevators and tail affect the plane in roll, pitch and
yaw.

Definition

Figure skaters can reduce their moment of inertia by pulling in their arms, allowing them to spin faster due
to conservation of angular momentum.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Moment of inertia I is defined as the ratio of the angular momentum L of a system to

its angular velocity around a principal axis, that is[7][9]

If the momentum of a system is constant, then as the moment of inertia gets smaller,
the angular velocity must increase. This occurs when spinning figure skaters pulls in
their outstretched arms or divers move from a straight position to a tuck
position during a dive.
If the shape of the body does not change, then its moment of inertia appears
in Newton's law of motion as the ratio of an applied torque on a body to the angular
acceleration around a principal axis, that is

For a simple pendulum, this definition yields a formula for the moment of inertia I in
terms of the mass m of the pendulum and its distance r from the pivot point as,

Thus, moment of inertia depends on both the mass m of a body and its geometry, or
shape, as defined by the distance r to the axis of rotation.

This simple formula generalizes to define moment of inertia for an arbitrarily shaped
body as the sum of all the elemental point massesdm each multiplied by the square of
its perpendicular distance r to an axis S .
In general, given an object of mass m, an effective radius r can be defined for an
arbitrary axis of interest, with such a value that its moment of inertia is

regardless of any symmetry that could justify, or not, defining a radius for that object.

Simple pendulum
Moment of inertia can be measured using a simple pendulum, because it is the
resistance to the rotation caused by gravity. Mathematically, the moment of inertia of
the pendulum is the ratio of the torque due to gravity about the pivot of a pendulum to
its angular acceleration about that pivot point. For a simple pendulum this is found to
be the product of the mass of the particle m with the square of its distance r to the
pivot, that is

This can be shown as follows: The force of gravity on the mass of a simple pendulum
generates a torque
around the axis perpendicular to the plane of the
pendulum movement. Here r is the distance vector perpendicular to and from the
force to the torque axis. Here F is the tangential component of the net force on the
mass. Associated with this torque is an angular acceleration, , of the string and mass
around this axis. Since the mass is constrained to a circle the tangential acceleration of
the mass is
. Since
the torque equation becomes:

where e is a unit vector perpendicular to the plane of the pendulum. (The second to
the last step occurs because of the BAC-CAB rule using the fact that is always
perpendicular to r.) The quantity I = mr2 is the moment of inertia of this single mass
around the pivot point.
The quantity I = mr2 also appears in the angular momentum of a simple pendulum,
which is calculated from the velocity v = r of the pendulum mass around the pivot,
where is the angular velocity of the mass about the pivot point. This angular
momentum is given by

using math similar to that used to derive the previous equation.

Similarly, the kinetic energy of the pendulum mass is defined by the velocity of the
pendulum around the pivot to yield

This shows that the quantity I = mr2 is how mass combines with the shape of a body
to define rotational inertia. The moment of inertia of an arbitrarily shaped body is the
sum of the values mr2 for all of the elements of mass in the body.

Compound pendulum

Pendulums used in Mendenhallgravimeter apparatus, from 1897 scientific journal. The portable gravimeter
developed in 1890 by Thomas C. Mendenhall provided the most accurate relative measurements of the local
gravitational field of the Earth.

A compound pendulum is a body formed from an assembly of particles or continuous

shapes that rotates rigidly around a pivot. Its moments of inertia is the sum the
moments of inertia of each of the particles that is composed of. [14][15]:395396[16]:51
53
The natural frequency ( ) of a compound pendulum depends on its moment of
inertia, ,

where is the mass of the object, is local acceleration of gravity, and is the
distance from the pivot point to the centre of mass of the object. Measuring this
frequency of oscillation over small angular displacements provides an effective way
of measuring moment of inertia of a body.[17]:516517

Thus, to determine the moment of inertia of the body, simply suspend it from a
convenient pivot point so that it swings freely in a plane perpendicular to the
direction of the desired moment of inertia, then measure its natural frequency or
period of oscillation ( ), to obtain

where is the period (duration) of oscillation (usually averaged over multiple

periods).
The moment of inertia of the body about its centre of mass,
using the parallel axis theorem to be

where is the mass of the body and

centre of mass .

, is then calculated

is the distance from the pivot point

to the

Moment of inertia of a body is often defined in terms of its radius of gyration, which
is the radius of a ring of equal mass around the centre of mass of a body that has the
same moment of inertia. The radius of gyration
is calculated from the body's
[18]:12961297
moment of inertia
and mass as the length,

Centre of oscillation
A simple pendulum that has the same natural frequency as a compound pendulum
defines the length from the pivot to a point called the centre of oscillation of the
compound pendulum. This point also corresponds to the centre of percussion. The
length is determined from the formula,

or

The seconds pendulum, which provides the "tick" and "tock" of a grandfather clock,
takes one second to swing from side-to-side. This is a period of two seconds, or a
natural frequency of radians/second for the pendulum. In this case, the distance to
the center of oscillation, , can be computed to be

Notice that the distance to the center of oscillation of the seconds pendulum must be
adjusted to accommodate different values for the local acceleration of gravity.Kater's
pendulum is is a compound pendulum that uses this property to measure the local
acceleration of gravity, and is called a gravimeter.

Measuring moment of inertia

The moment of inertia of complex systems such as a vehicle or airplane around its
vertical axis can be measured by suspending the system from three points to form a
trifilar pendulum. A trifilar pendulum is a platform supported by three wires designed
to oscillate in torsion around its vertical centroidal axis. [19] The period of oscillation of
the trifilar pendulum yields the moment of inertia of the system. [20]

Calculating moment of inertia about an axis

Four objects racing down a plane while rolling without slipping. From back to front: spherical shell (red), solid
sphere (orange), cylindrical ring (green) and solid cylinder (blue). The time for each object to reach the
finishing line depends on their moment of inertia. (Details, Animated GIF version)

The moment of inertia about an axis of a body is calculated by summing mr 2 for every
particle in the body, where r is the perpendicular distance to the specified axis. To see
how moment of inertia arises in the study of the movement of an extended body, it is
convenient to consider a rigid assembly of point masses. (This equation can be used
for axes that are not principal axes provided that it is understood that this does not
fully describe the moment of inertia. [21])

Consider the kinetic energy of an assembly of N masses mi that lie at the

distances ri from the pivot point P, which is the nearest point on the axis of rotation. It
is the sum of the kinetic energy of the individual masses, [17]:516517[18]:10841085[18]:12961300

This shows that the moment of inertia of the body is the sum of each of the mr 2 terms,
that is

Thus, moment of inertia is a physical property that combines the mass and distribution
of the particles around the rotation axis. Notice that rotation about different axes of the
same body yield different moments of inertia.
The moment of inertia of a continuous body rotating about a specified axis is
calculated in the same way, with the summation replaced by the integral,

Again r is the radius vector to a point in the body from the specified axis through the
pivot P, and (r) is the mass density at each point r. The integration is evaluated over
the volume V of the body. The moment of inertia of a flat surface is similar with the
mass density being replaced by its areal mass density with the integral evaluated over
its area.
Note on second moment of area: The moment of inertia of a body moving in a plane
and the second moment of area of a beam's cross-section are often confused. The
moment of inertia of body with the shape of the cross-section is the second moment of
this area about the z-axis perpendicular to the cross-section, weighted by its density.
This is also called the polar moment of the area, and is the sum of the second
moments about the x and y axes.[22] The stresses in a beam are calculated using the
second moment of the cross-sectional area around either the x-axis or y-axis
depending on the load.

Example calculation of moment of inertia

The moment of inertia of a compound pendulum constructed from a thin disc

mounted at the end of a thin rod that oscillates around a pivot at the other end of the
rod, begins with the calculation of the moment of inertia of the thin rod and thin disc
about their respective centres of mass. [18]

The moment of inertia of a thin rod with constant cross-section s and density
and with length l about a perpendicular axis through its centre of mass is
determined by integration.[18]:1301 Align the x-axis with the rod and locate the
origin its centre of mass at the centre of the rod, then

where m = s is the mass of the rod.

The moment of inertia of a thin disc of constant thickness s, radius R, and

density about an axis through its centre and perpendicular to its face (parallel
to its axis of rotational symmetry) is determined by integration.[18]:1301 Align the
z-axis with the axis of the disc and define a volume element as dV = sr drd,
then

where m = R2s is its mass.

The moment of inertia of the compound pendulum is now obtained by adding

the moment of inertia of the rod and the disc around the pivot point P as,

where L is the length of the pendulum. Notice that the parallel axis theorem is used to
shift the moment of inertia from the centre of mass to the pivot point of the pendulum.
A list of moments of inertia formulas for standard body shapes provides a way to
obtain the moment of inertial of a complex body as an assembly of simpler shaped
bodies. The parallel axis theorem is used to shift the reference point of the individual
bodies to the reference point of the assembly.

As one more example, consider the moment of inertia of a solid sphere of constant
density about an axis through its centre of mass. This is determined by summing the
moments of inertia of the thin discs that form the sphere. If the surface of the ball is
defined by the equation[18]:1301

then the radius r of the disc at the cross-section z along the z-axis is

Therefore, the moment of inertia of the ball is the sum of the moments of inertia of the
discs along the z-axis,

where m = (4/3)R3 is the mass of the ball.

Moment of inertia in planar movement of a rigid body

If a mechanical system is constrained to move parallel to a fixed plane, then the
rotation of a body in the system occurs around an axis k perpendicular to this plane. In
this case, the moment of inertia of the mass in this system is a scalar known as
the polar moment of inertia. The definition of the polar moment of inertia can be
obtained by considering momentum, kinetic energy and Newton's laws for the planar
movement of a rigid system of particles.[14][17][23][24]
If a system of n particles, Pi, i = 1,...,n, are assembled into a rigid body, then the
momentum of the system can be written in terms of positions relative to a reference
point R, and absolute velocities vi

where is the angular velocity of the system and V is the velocity of R.

For planar movement the angular velocity vector is directed along the unit
vector k which is perpendicular to the plane of movement. Introduce the unit
vectors ei from the reference point R to a point ri , and the unit vector ti = k ei so

This defines the relative position vector and the velocity vector for the rigid system of
the particles moving in a plane.
Note on the cross product: When a body moves parallel to a ground plane, the
trajectories of all the points in the body lie in planes parallel to this ground plane. This
means that any rotation that the body undergoes must be around an axis perpendicular
to this plane. Planar movement is often presented as projected onto this ground plane
so that the axis of rotation appears as a point. In this case, the angular velocity and
angular acceleration of the body are scalars and the fact that they are vectors along the
rotation axis is ignored. This is usually preferred for introductions to the topic. But in
the case of moment of inertia, the combination of mass and geometry benefits from
the geometric properties of the cross product. For this reason, in this section on planar
movement the angular velocity and accelerations of the body are vectors
perpendicular to the ground plane, and the cross product operations are the same as
used for the study of spatial rigid body movement.

Angular momentum in planar movement

The angular momentum vector for the planar movement of a rigid system of particles
is given by[14][17]

Use the centre of mass C as the reference point so

and define the moment of inertia relative to the centre of mass I C as

then the equation for angular momentum simplifies to [18]:1028

The moment of inertia IC about an axis perpendicular to the movement of the rigid
system and through the centre of mass is known as the polar moment of inertia.
For a given amount of angular momentum, a decrease in the moment of inertia results
in an increase in the angular velocity. Figure skaters can change their moment of
inertia by pulling in their arms. Thus, the angular velocity achieved by a skater with
outstretched arms results in a greater angular velocity when the arms are pulled in,
because of the reduced moment of inertia.

Kinetic energy in planar movement

This 1906 rotary shear uses the moment of inertia of two flywheels to store kinetic energy which when
released is used to cut metal stock (International Library of Technology, 1906).

The kinetic energy of a rigid system of particles moving in the plane is given by [14][17]

This equation expands to yield three terms

Let the reference point be the centre of mass C of the system so the second term
becomes zero, and introduce the moment of inertia I C so the kinetic energy is given
by[18]:1084

The moment of inertia IC is the polar moment of inertia of the body.

Newton's laws for planar movement

A 1920's John Deere tractor with the spoked flywheel on the engine. The large moment of inertia of the
flywheel smooths the operation of the tractor

Newton's laws for a rigid system of N particles, Pi, i = 1,..., N, can be written in terms
of a resultant force and torque at a reference point R, to yield[14][17]

where ri denotes the trajectory of each particle.

The kinematics of a rigid body yields the formula for the acceleration of the
particle Pi in terms of the position R and acceleration A of the reference particle as
well as the angular velocity vector and angular acceleration vector of the rigid
system of particles as,

For systems that are constrained to planar movement, the angular velocity and angular
acceleration vectors are directed along k perpendicular to the plane of movement,
which simplifies this acceleration equation. In this case, the acceleration vectors can
be simplified by introducing the unit vectors ei from the reference point R to a
point ri and the unit vectors ti = k ei , so

This yields the resultant torque on the system as

where ei ei = 0, and ei ti = k is the unit vector perpendicular to the plane for all of
the particles Pi .
Use the centre of mass C as the reference point and define the moment of inertia
relative to the centre of mass IC , then the equation for the resultant torque simplifies
to[18]:1029

The parameter IC is the polar moment of inertia of the moving body.

The inertia matrix for spatial movement of a rigid body

The scalar moments of inertia appear as elements in a matrix when a system of
particles is assembled into a rigid body that moves in three-dimensional space. This
inertia matrix appears in the calculation of the angular momentum, kinetic energy and
resultant torque of the rigid system of particles. [3][4][5][6][25]
An important application of the inertia matrix and Newton's laws of motion is the
analysis of a spinning top. This is discussed in the article on gyroscopic precession. A
more detailed presentation can be found in the article on Euler's equations of motion.
Let the system of particles Pi, i = 1,..., n be located at the coordinates ri with
velocities vi relative to a fixed reference frame. For a (possibly moving) reference
point R, the relative positions are

and the (absolute) velocities are

where is the angular velocity of the system, and VR is the velocity of R.

Angular momentum
If the reference point R in the assembly, or body, is chosen as the centre of mass C,
then its angular momentum takes the form, [3][6]

where the terms containing VR sum to zero by definition of the centre of mass.
To define the inertia matrix, introduce the skew-symmetric matrix [ B] constructed
from a vector b that performs the cross product operation, such that

This matrix [B] has the components of b = (bx, by,bz) as its elements, in the form

Now construct the skew-symmetric matrix [ri]= [ri-C] obtained from the relative
position vector ri=ri - C, and use this skew-symmetric matrix to define,

where [IC ] defined by

is the inertia matrix of the rigid system of particles measured relative to the centre of
mass C.
Kinetic energy
The kinetic energy of a rigid system of particles can be formulated in terms of
the centre of mass and a matrix of mass moments of inertia of the system. Let the
system of particles Pi, i = 1,...,n be located at the coordinates ri with velocities vi, then
the kinetic energy is[3][6]

where ri= ri-C is the position vector of a particle relative to the centre of mass.
This equation expands to yield three terms

The second term in this equation is zero because C is the centre of mass. Introduce the
skew-symmetric matrix [ri] so the kinetic energy becomes

Thus, the kinetic energy of the rigid system of particles is given by

where [IC] is the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass and M is the total mass.
Resultant torque
The inertia matrix appears in the application of Newton's second law to a rigid
assembly of particles. The resultant torque on this system is, [3][6]

where ai is the acceleration of the particle Pi. The kinematics of a rigid body yields the
formula for the acceleration of the particle P i in terms of the position R and
acceleration A of the reference point, as well as the angular velocity vector and
angular acceleration vector of the rigid system as,

Use the centre of mass C as the reference point, and introduce the skew-symmetric
matrix [ri]=[ri-C] to represent the cross product (ri - C)x, to obtain

The calculation uses the identity

obtained from the Jacobi identity for the triple cross product as shown in the proof
below:
Proof

Thus, the resultant torque on the rigid system of particles is given by

where [IC] is the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass.

Parallel axis theorem
The inertia matrix of a body depends on the choice of the reference point. There is a
useful relationship between the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass C and the
inertia matrix relative to another point R. This relationship is called the parallel axis
theorem.[3][6]
Consider the inertia matrix [IR] obtained for a rigid system of particles measured
relative to a reference point R, given by

Let C be the centre of mass of the rigid system, then

where d is the vector from the centre of mass C to the reference point R. Use this
equation to compute the inertia matrix,

Expand this equation to obtain

The first term is the inertia matrix [IC] relative to the centre of mass. The second and
third terms are zero by definition of the centre of mass C. And the last term is the total
mass of the system multiplied by the square of the skew-symmetric matrix [d]
constructed from d.
The result is the parallel axis theorem,

where d is the vector from the centre of mass C to the reference point R.

Note on the minus sign: By using the skew symmetric matrix of position vectors
relative to the reference point, the inertia matrix of each particle has the form -m[r]2,
which is similar to the mr2 that appears in planar movement. However, to make this to
work out correctly a minus sign is needed. This minus sign can be absorbed into the
term m[r]T[r], if desired, by using the skew-symmetry property of [r].

The inertia matrix and the scalar moment of inertia around

an arbitrary axis
The scalar moment of inertia, IL, of a body about a specified axis whose direction is
specified by the unit vector S and passes through the body at a point R is as follows:[6]

where [IR] is the moment of inertia matrix of the system relative to the reference
point R.
This is derived as follows. Let a rigid assembly of N particles, Pi, i = 1,...,N, have
coordinates ri. Choose R as a reference point and compute the moment of inertia
around an axis L defined by the unit vector S through the reference point R. The
moment of inertia of the system around this line L=R+tS is computed by determining
the perpendicular vector from this axis to the particle P i given by

where [I] is the identity matrix and [S ST] is the outer product matrix formed from the
unit vector S along the line L.
To relate this scalar moment of inertia to the inertia matrix of the body, introduce the
skew-symmetric matrix [S] such that [S]y=S x y, then we have the identity

which relies on the fact that S is a unit vector.

The magnitude squared of the perpendicular vector is

The simplification of this equation uses the identity

where the dot and the cross products have been interchanged. Expand the cross
products to compute

where [ri] is the skew symmetric matrix obtained from the vector r=ri-R.
Thus, the moment of inertia around the line L through R in the direction S is obtained
from the calculation

or

where [IR] is the moment of inertia matrix of the system relative to the reference
point R.
This shows that the inertia matrix can be used to calculate the moment of inertia of a
body around any specified rotation axis in the body.

The inertia tensor

The inertia matrix is often described as the inertia tensor, which consists of the same
moments of inertia and products of inertia about the three coordinate axes. [6][23]The
inertia tensor is constructed from the nine component tensors, (the symbol is
the tensor product)

where ei, i=1,2,3 are the three orthogonal unit vectors defining the inertial frame in
which the body moves. Using this basis the inertia tensor is given by

This tensor is of degree two because the component tensors are each constructed from
two basis vectors. In this form the inertia tensor is also called the inertia binor.
For a rigid system of particles Pk, k = 1,...,N each of mass mk with position
coordinates rk=(xk, yk, zk), the inertia tensor is given by

where E is the identity tensor

The inertia tensor for a continuous body is given by

where r defines the coordinates of a point in the body and (r) is the mass density at
that point. The integral is taken over the volume V of the body. The inertia tensor is
symmetric because Iij= Iji.
Alternatively it can also be written in terms of the hat operator as:

The inertia tensor can be used in the same way as the inertia matrix to compute the
scalar moment of inertia about an arbitrary axis in the direction n,

where the dot product is taken with the corresponding elements in the component
tensors. A product of inertia term such as I 12 is obtained by the computation

and can be interpreted as the moment of inertia around the x-axis when the object
rotates around the y-axis.
The components of tensors of degree two can be assembled into a matrix. For the
inertia tensor this matrix is given by,

It is common in rigid body mechanics to use notation that explicitly identifies the x, y,
and z axes, such as Ixx and Ixy, for the components of the inertia tensor.
Identities for a skew-symmetric matrix
To compute moment of inertia of a mass around an axis, the perpendicular vector from
the mass to the axis is needed. If the axis L is defined by the unit vector Sthrough the
reference point R, then the perpendicular vector from the line L to the point r is given
by

where [I] is the identity matrix and [S ST] is the outer product matrix formed from the
unit vector S along the line L. Recall that skew-symmetric matrix [S] is constructed so
that [S]y=S x y. The matrix [I-SST] in this equation subtracts the component of r=rR that is parallel to S.
The previous sections show that in computing the moment of inertia matrix this
operator yields a similar operator using the components of the vector r that is

It is helpful to keep the following identities in mind to compare the equations that
define the inertia tensor and the inertia matrix.
Let [R] be the skew symmetric matrix associated with the position vector R=(x, y, z),
then the product in the inertia matrix becomes

This can be viewed as another way of computing the perpendicular distance from an
axis to a point, because the matrix formed by the outer product [R RT] yields the
identify

where [I] is the 3x3 identity matrix.

Also notice, that

where tr denotes the sum of the diagonal elements of the outer product matrix, known
as its trace.

The inertia matrix in different reference frames

The use of the inertia matrix in Newton's second law assumes its components are
computed relative to axes parallel to the inertial frame and not relative to a body-fixed
reference frame.[6][23] This means that as the body moves the components of the inertia
matrix change with time. In contrast, the components of the inertia matrix measured in
a body-fixed frame are constant.
Body frame inertia matrix
Let the body frame inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass be denoted [I CB], and
define the orientation of the body frame relative to the inertial frame by the rotation
matrix [A], such that,

where vectors y in the body fixed coordinate frame have coordinates x in the inertial
frame. Then, the inertia matrix of the body measured in the inertial frame is given by

Notice that [A] changes as the body moves, while [I CB] remains constant.
Principal axes
Measured in the body frame the inertia matrix is a constant real symmetric matrix. A
real symmetric matrix has the eigendecomposition into the product of a rotation
matrix [Q] and a diagonal matrix [], given by

where

The columns of the rotation matrix [Q] define the directions of the principal axes of
the body, and the constants I1, I2 and I3 are called the principal moments of inertia.
This result was first shown by J. J. Sylvester (1852), and is a form of Sylvester's law
of inertia.[26][27]
For bodies with constant density an axis of rotational symmetry is a principal axis.
Inertia ellipsoid

An ellipsoid with the semi-principal diameters labelled a, b, and c.

The moment of inertia matrix in body-frame coordinates is a quadratic form that

defines a surface in the body called Poinsot's ellipsoid.[28] Let [] be the inertia matrix
relative to the centre of mass aligned with the principal axes, then the surface

or

defines an ellipsoid in the body frame. Write this equation in the form,

to see that the semi-principal diameters of this ellipsoid are given by

Let a point x on this ellipsoid be defined in terms of its magnitude and direction, x=|x|
n, where n is a unit vector. Then the relationship presented above, between the inertia
matrix and the scalar moment of inertia I n around an axis in the direction n, yields

Thus, the magnitude of a point x in the direction n on the inertia ellipsoid is

See also

Central moment
Instant centre of rotation
List of moments of inertia
List of moment of inertia tensors
Rotational energy
Stretch rule
Tire balance

References
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External links
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Angular momentum and rigid-body rotation in two and three dimensions

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Tutorial on finding moments of inertia, with problems and solutions on various
basic shapes
Notes on mechanics of manipulation: the angular inertia tensor

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