The static and dynamic properties of an asymmetric rigid body are studied using a Lagrangian approach. The body consists of a thin-walled cylinder balanced by a point mass attached to its inner surface. When resting on an inclined plane, stable and unstable equilibrium points are found, and oscillations about the stable point are studied for different angles of inclination and different values of the balancing mass. The analysis illustrates the utility of Lagrangian mechanics, and the derived results can be experimentally verified using simple materials.
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2021
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