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On the stability of a spinning top containing liquid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

K. Stewartson
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, The Durham Colleges in the University of Durham

Abstract

The stability of a heavy top, containing a cylindrical cavity partly full of liquid, for small displacements from the sleeping position is studied. It is shown theoretically that instability can occur when any one of the periods of free oscillation of the liquid, which are doubly infinite in number, is sufficiently near to the period of nutation of the empty top. In experiments carried out by Prof. Ward, only the two principal instabilities could be distinguished.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1959 Cambridge University Press

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References

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