Contents

 1 Kinematics
o 1.1 Linear and angular position

o 1.2 Linear and angular velocity

 2 Kinematical equations
o 2.1 Addition theorem for angular

velocity
o 2.2 Addition theorem for position

o 2.3 Mathematical definition of velocity

o 2.4 Mathematical definition of

acceleration
o 2.5 Velocity of two points fixed on a

rigid body
o 2.6 Acceleration of two points fixed on

a rigid body
o 2.7 Velocity of one point moving on a

rigid body
o 2.8 Acceleration of one point moving on

a rigid body
o 2.9 Other quantities

 3 Kinetics
 Rigid body

The position of a rigid body is determined by the position

of its center of mass and by its orientation (at least six
parameters in total).
In physics, a rigid body is an idealization of a solid body
of finite size in which deformation is neglected. In other
words, the distance between any two given points of a rigid
body remains constant in time regardless of external forces
exerted on it. Even though such an object cannot physically
exist due to relativity, objects can normally be assumed to
be perfectly rigid if they are not moving near the speed of
light.
In classical mechanics a rigid body is usually considered as
a continuous mass distribution, while in quantum
mechanics a rigid body is usually thought of as a collection
of point masses. For instance, in quantum mechanics
molecules (consisting of the point masses: electrons and
nuclei) are often seen as rigid bodies (see classification of
molecules as rigid rotors).
Kinematics
Linear and angular position
The position of a rigid body is the position of all the
particles of which it is composed. To simplify the
description of this position, we exploit the property that the
body is rigid, namely that all its particles maintain the same
distance relative to each other. If the body is rigid, it is
sufficient to describe the position of at least three non-
collinear particles. This makes it possible to reconstruct the
position of all the other particles, provided that their time-
invariant position relative to the three selected particles is
known. However, typically a different and mathematically
more convenient approach is used. The position of the
whole body is represented by:
1. the linear position or position of the body, namely the
position of one of the particles of the body,
specifically chosen as a reference point (for instance
its center of mass or its centroid, or the origin of a
coordinate system fixed to the body), together with
2. the angular position (or orientation) of the body.
Thus, the position of a rigid body has two components:
linear and angular, respectively.[1] The same is true for
other kinematic and kinetic quantities describing the
motion of a rigid body, such as velocity, acceleration,
momentum, impulse, and kinetic energy.[2]
The linear position can be represented by a vector with its
tail at an arbitrary reference point in space (often the origin
of a chosen coordinate system) and its tip at a point of
interest on the rigid body (often its center of mass or
centroid).
There are several ways to numerically describe the
orientation of a rigid body, including a set of three Euler
angles, a quaternion, or a direction cosine matrix (also
referred to as a rotation matrix).
In general, when a rigid body moves, both its position and
orientation vary with time. In the kinematic sense, these
changes are referred to as translation and rotation,
respectively. Indeed, the position of a rigid body can be
viewed as a hypothetic translation and rotation (roto-
translation) of the body starting from a hypothetic reference
position (not necessarily coinciding with a position actually
taken by the body during its motion).

Linear and angular velocity

Velocity (also called linear velocity) and angular velocity
are measured with respect to a frame of reference.
The linear velocity of a rigid body is a vector quantity,
equal to the time rate of change of its linear position. Thus,
it is the velocity of a reference point fixed to the body.
During purely translational motion (motion with no
rotation), all points on a rigid body move with the same
velocity. However, when motion involves rotation, the
instantaneous velocity of any two points on the body will
generally not be the same. Two points of a rotating body
will have the same instantaneous velocity only if they
happen to lay on an axis parallel to the instantaneous axis
of rotation.
Angular velocity is a vector quantity that describes the
angular speed at which the orientation of the rigid body is
changing and the instantaneous axis about which it is
rotating. All points on a rigid body experience the same
angular velocity at all times. During purely rotational
motion, all points on the body change position except for
those lying on the instantaneous axis of rotation. The
relationship between orientation and angular velocity is not
directly analogous to the relationship between position and
velocity. Angular velocity is not the time rate of change of
orientation, because there is no such concept as an
orientation vector that can be differentiated to obtain the
angular velocity.

Kinematical equations
Addition theorem for angular
velocity
The angular velocity of a rigid body B in a reference frame
N is equal to the sum of the angular velocity of a rigid body
D in N and the angular velocity of B with respect D[3]:
.
In this case, rigid bodies and reference frames are
indistinguishable and completely interchangeable.
Addition theorem for position
For any set of three points P, Q, and R, the position vector
from P to R is the sum of the position vector from P to Q
and the position vector from Q to R:
.

Mathematical definition of velocity

The velocity of point P in reference frame N is defined
using the time derivative in N of the position vector from O
to P[4]:

where O is any arbitrary point fixed in reference frame N,

and the N to the left of the d/dt operator indicates that the
derivative is taken in reference frame N. The result is
independent of the selection of O so long as O is fixed in N.

Mathematical definition of
acceleration
The acceleration of point P in reference frame N is defined
using the time derivative in N of its velocity[4]:

.
Velocity of two points fixed on a
rigid body
For two points P and Q that are fixed on a rigid body B,
where B has an angular velocity in the reference frame
N, the velocity of Q in N can be expressed as a function of
the velocity of P in N[5]:
.

Acceleration of two points fixed on

a rigid body
By differentiating the equation for the Velocity of two
points fixed on a rigid body in N with respect to time, the
acceleration in reference frame N of a point Q fixed on a
rigid body B can be expressed as

where is the angular acceleration of B in the reference

frame N[5].

Velocity of one point moving on a

rigid body
If the point R is moving in rigid body B while B moves in
reference frame N, then the velocity of R in N is
 .
where Q is the point fixed in B that is instantaneously
coincident with R at the instant of interest[6]. This relation is
often combined with the relation for the Velocity of two
points fixed on a rigid body.

Acceleration of one point moving on

a rigid body
The acceleration in reference frame N of the point R
moving in body B while B is moving in frame N is given
by

where Q is the point fixed in B that instantaneously

coincident with R at the instant of interest[6]. This equation
is often combined with Acceleration of two points fixed
on a rigid body.

Other quantities
If C is the origin of a local coordinate system L, attached to
the body,
• the spatial or twist acceleration of a rigid body is
defined as the spatial acceleration of C (as opposed to
material acceleration above);

where
 • represents the position of the point/particle with
respect to the reference point of the body in terms of
the local coordinate system L (the rigidity of the body
means that this does not depend on time)
• is the orientation matrix, an orthogonal matrix with
determinant 1, representing the orientation (angular
position) of the local coordinate system L, with respect
to the arbitrary reference orientation of another
coordinate system G. Think of this matrix as three
orthogonal unit vectors, one in each column, which
define the orientation of the axes of L with respect to
G.
• represents the angular velocity of the rigid body
• represents the total velocity of the point/particle
• represents the total acceleration of the
point/particle
• represents the angular acceleration of the rigid
body
• represents the spatial acceleration of the
point/particle
• represents the spatial acceleration of the rigid
body (i.e. the spatial acceleration of the origin of L)
In 2D the angular velocity is a scalar, and matrix A(t)
simply represents a rotation in the xy-plane by an angle
which is the integral of the angular velocity over time.
Vehicles, walking people, etc. usually rotate according to
changes in the direction of the velocity: they move forward
with respect to their own orientation. Then, if the body
follows a closed orbit in a plane, the angular velocity
integrated over a time interval in which the orbit is
completed once, is an integer times 360°. This integer is the
winding number with respect to the origin of the velocity.
Compare the amount of rotation associated with the
vertices of a polygon.

Kinetics
Any point that is rigidly connected to the body can be used
as reference point (origin of coordinate system L) to
describe the linear motion of the body (the linear position,
velocity and acceleration vectors depend on the choice).
However, depending on the application, a convenient
choice may be:
• the center of mass of the whole system, which
generally has the simplest motion for a body moving
freely in space;
• a point such that the translational motion is zero or
simplified, e.g. on an axle or hinge, at the center of a
ball and socket joint, etc.
When the center of mass is used as reference point:
• The (linear) momentum is independent of the
rotational motion. At any time it is equal to the total
mass of the rigid body times the translational velocity.
• The angular momentum with respect to the center of
mass is the same as without translation: at any time it
is equal to the inertia tensor times the angular velocity.
When the angular velocity is expressed with respect to
 a coordinate system coinciding with the principal axes
of the body, each component of the angular
momentum is a product of a moment of inertia (a
principal value of the inertia tensor) times the
corresponding component of the angular velocity; the
torque is the inertia tensor times the angular
acceleration.
• Possible motions in the absence of external forces are
translation with constant velocity, steady rotation
about a fixed principal axis, and also torque-free
precession.
• The net external force on the rigid body is always
equal to the total mass times the translational
acceleration (i.e., Newton's second law holds for the
translational motion, even when the net external
torque is nonzero, and/or the body rotates).
• The total kinetic energy is simply the sum of
translational and rotational energy.