Analyzing the Motion of Symmetric Tops Without Recurring to Analytical Mechanics

Abstract

Characterizing the dynamics of heavy symmetric tops is essential in several fields of theoretical and applied physics. Accordingly, a series of approaches have been developed to describe their motion. In this paper, we present a derivation based on elementary geometric considerations carried out in the laboratory frame. Our framework enabled the simple derivation of the equation of motion for small nutations. The introduced formalism is also employed to determine the alteration of the dynamics of heavy, symmetric, spinning tops in a rotating force field, that is compared to the precession characteristics of a quantum magnetic dipole in rotating magnetic field.