Abstract
THE answer to proposition (1) is best given for the most general case. A body projected in any manner in a field of gravity in vacuo will move so that the centre of gravity (C.G.) describes a parabola, while the body moves about the C.G. so that to an observer seated at the C.G. the body has the motion described by Poinsot, in which the momental ellipsoid rolls on a fixed plane. The normal to this plane is the axis of resultant angular momentum, and this axis preserves a direction fixed in space, while the body moves about it. When this axis coincides with a principal axis, the body appears to be spinning steadily about the axis, but a closer observation reveals always a precessional and nutational motion.
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GREENHILL, A. The Flight of an Elongated Shot. Nature 75, 367–368 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075367d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075367d0
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