wherefrom, by integration,
()
0
0
3
1
() sin
Mgl
tt t
I
ZMNZ
X
MN
ªº
=− +
«»
¬¼
.
(17.1.39')
Observing that
0
0X >
, the meridian plane being rotated in the same sense, it results
that the rotation axis of the gyroscope performs a motion of precession with an angular
velocity, which varies periodically between the value zero and a maximal value
max
0
3
2/Mgl IZX=
. The curve described in the motion of nutation on the unit sphere
between the circles
=
0
RR and =+
max
0
RR R is of the nature of the curve in
Fig. 15.21c, from the corresponding Lagrange-Poisson motion, having cuspidal points
for
=
0
RR
and being tangent to the circle =+
max
0
RR R . Indeed, if V is the angle
made by this curve with a meridian circle, then we may write (see Sect. 15.2.1.2 too)
()
2
2
00
0
d1 1
tan sin sin 1 sin tan
dsin 2
Ml
Vt
J
ZZ
RR RMN
RR
R
=≅= +
. (17.1.40)
For
=
0
RR we have = 0R , while – if we take into account (17.1.38''') – it results
=tan 0V , hence cuspidal points; for →+
max
0
RRR one obtains →∞tanV , the
curve being normal to the meridian circle.
The point
P describes an analogous curve in the plane P (Fig. 17.9).
17.1.2.6 Frictionless Motion of a Homogeneous Rigid Solid of Cylindrical Form
on a Fixed Horizontal Plane
We consider, analogously, a homogeneous rigid solid S of cylindrical form, which lays
on a fixed horizontal plane
P along a generatrix PP
′′
. The fixed frame of reference
′
R
is linked to the plane P, the
′′
3
Ox -axis being normal to it, in the part in which is
the solid
S . The movable frame R is chosen so that the axes
23
,Cx Cx be in the
median transverse section, which attains the plane
P at the point P; the
1
Cx
-axis is
taken parallel to the generatrices of the cylinder (Fig. 17.10). The applicate
′
=
3
CQ S
of the centre
C will be given by a relation of the form (17.1.28) too. We also notice that
the
1
Ox
-axis is contained in the plane
12
Cx x
(we use also a frame of reference
R
, the
axes of which are parallel to the axes of the frame
′
R
), so that Euler’s angle is
= 0K
; the relations (5.2.35) become
1
XR=
,
2
sinXZR=
,
3
cosXZR=
.
(17.1.41)
The own weight
Mg and the constraint forces along the generatrix
′′
PP
are along
the direction of the
′′
3
Ox -axis. From the theorem of motion of the mass centre, as in the
preceding cases, it results that the point
Q has a rectilinear and uniform motion in the
17 Dynamics of Systems of Rigid Solids
485