Chapter 11: Work and Energy of Rigid Bodies
In the previous two chapters we have outlined the methodology for analysing the kinematics and kinetics of rigid bodies. However, solving their equations of motion by integration or other means is not always necessary. In this chapter we introduce energy methods to analyse their dynamics, similar to what we did for point masses in Ch. 7 but now also including moments and rotational motion. In the first sections we will derive the concepts of work and kinetic energy for rigid bodies.