What is the tennis racket theorem?
In: 3
Is that also the intermediate axis thing?
If you spin a tennis racket along it’s longest axis (so the handle spins while staying in the same spot), it is happy to spin, and the spin is stable.
If you spin a tennis racket along it’s shortest axis (so it kinda spins flat like a pizza), it is also happy to spin, and is stable).
But if you try to spin it along the intermediate axis (“face” of racket spinning over itself), it is not happy to spin, and is unstable. It will try to adjust itself, but will just end up wobbling in the air, often flipping itself along one of the other axes.
The reason this happens, is because when spun in the intermediate axis, there are internal forces that are only amplified by its spinning.
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