The influence of the inertial properties of the parts of gimbals on the dynamics of a rigid body

The problems of the motion of two rigid bodies, namely, a uniform thin rod with a fixed end in a gravitational field and a uniform flat circular disk with a fixed centre, are considered. The behaviour of these bodies as a function of the method used to implement the constraint, namely, using an ideal ball joint or different versions of gimbals, are compared. The features of the motion specified by the inertial properties of the parts of the gimbals are found ©2009.