Stationary Precession of a Spinning Top (Revised)

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This Demonstration modifies an earlier contribution to the Wolfram Demonstration Project on a spinning top, where you can see the mathematics. Click "show path" to see the top's coordinate system, as well as the path traced out by the axis. At the default settings, this path is a swirling line showing both precession and nutation. By setting "initial nutation velocity" to zero, the path will show only precession.
Contributed by: Jack Vogt (March 2011)
Based on a program by: William C. Guttner
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Snapshots
Details
Snapshot 1: the basic top
Snapshot 2: path showing both precession and nutation
Snapshot 3: path showing precession only
Permanent Citation