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Section 9.4 Kinetic Energy

The kinetic energy of particle \(P\) of \(\Si\) of mass \(dm\) relative to \(\cE\) is defined as \(\half\vel^{2}_{P/\cE} \, dm\text{.}\) This leads to the following definition.

Definition 9.4.1. Kinetic Energy of a Material System.

The kinetic energy of material system \(\Si\) in \(\cE\) is defined as the scalar quantity
\begin{equation} \kin_{\Si /\cE} = \half \int_{\Si} \vel^{2}_{P/ \cE} \, dm \tag{9.4.1} \end{equation}
In general, the determination of the kinetic energy of a material system is not a straightforward task, except in the case of a rigid body or system of rigid bodies, as will be shown in Section 9.7.
The remainder of the chapter is devoted to the kinetics of rigid bodies. Pivotal to the determination of angular momentum and kinetic energy is the notion of inertia operator.