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Old January 28th 08, 04:28 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
Bertie the Bunyip[_22_]
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Posts: 273
Default Aerodynamic question for you engineers

Dudley Henriques wrote in
news
Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote in
:

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
Tina wrote in news:ba6ee109-c6e5-4633-ae25-
:

Sorry. Rigid bodies do NOT rotate around their cg if an external

force
is applied whose vector goes thru it.

Drop a yardstick, cg at the 18 inch mark, so that its zero inch

edge
hits a table. The center of rotation as a reaction to that force

is
the table edge.

You may write an equation that descibes rotation around its cg,

and
another that describes translation, but a center of rotation, to

many
who deal with such things, is that point on a rotating body whose
translational motion does not include rotation, the body appears

to
rotate around it.

In the case I just described, such a point is at the end of the
yardstick.

You are obviously defining center of rotation differenrtly than I

am,
but my American Institute of Physics Handbook on page 2-9 talks

about
rotation "in which some axis or point remains fixed in space".

That
is
the center of rotation. In the several examples I've given that

axis,
the center of rotation, is not at the center of gravity.

I am sure the math and classical physics folks use the same
definition. It's perfectly fine to talk abou other ways of

describing
rotation, but engineers who think about it a little, even if they

are
pilots, would tend, I expect, tend to agree with AIP handbook if

they
are trying to communicate with other engineers.
.
As I claimed earlier, if allowed thusters on a rigid body, I can

make
it rotate around ANY point. The table edge in my example could be
replace by such a thruster.
I doidn't say you couldn't.
Now, if the forces are removed, you will get no argument from me

that
rotation is about the CG. The forces are not removed in the OP's
question.

Sigh.
Ok'



Bertie

There was an optimist, a pessimist, and an engineer. The optimist

said,
"This bottle is half full"
The pessimist said,
"This bottle is half empty"
The engineer said;
"Yo!...... Will one of you PLEASE call those idiots over in

management
and tell them this F*****g bottle is twice as big as it has to be!"




Mmm, k. I presume that this is a variation of the three blind guys

and
the elephant?

Bertie.


Well, one could I guess, make a comparison based on an incomplete and
partial picture denies the whole truth scenario, but on the other

hand,
in the world I know anyway, I've never met an engineer who wouldn't
swear they were right about the whole, even if they hadn't touched the
elephant at all:-)))



You flatter me sir!

Bertie