Possible Duplicate:
Instability of a thrown tennis racquet
Why does a cuboid spin stably around two axes but not the third?
I have a problem with one of my study questions for an oral exam:
"Describe the stability of as rigid body spinning around the minor, intermediate and major principal axes. Consider a case of spinning purely around the minor principal axis. What will happen with the angular momentum sphere and kinetic energy ellipsoid if we have energy dissipation in the system? Explain using the angular momentum sphere and the kinetic energy ellipsoid. Will the angular momentum stay constant in the presence of energy dissipation—why or why not? In which ways can energy be dissipated from a spinning body?"
