, then the principal axis must also lie in that sector at half the distance from the axle.
If this principal axis be that of greatest moment of inertia, we must raise the screw
in order to bring it nearer the axle
. If it be the axis of least moment we must lower the screw
. In this way we may make the principal axis coincide with the axle. Let us suppose that the principal axis is that of greatest moment of inertia, and that we have made it coincide with the axle of the instrument. Let us also suppose that the moments of inertia about the other axes are equal, and very little less than that about the axle. Let the top be spun about the axle and then receive a disturbance which causes it to spin about some other axis. The instantaneous axis will not remain at rest either in space or in the body. In space it will describe a right cone, completing a revolution in somewhat less than the time of revolution of the top. In the body it will describe another cone of larger angle in a period which is longer as the difference of axes of the body is smaller. The invariable axis will be fixed in space, and describe a cone in the body.
The relation of the different motions may be understood from the following illustration. Take a hoop and make it revolve about a stick which remains at rest and touches the inside of the hoop. The section of the stick represents the path of the instantaneous axis in space, the hoop that of the same axis in the body, and the axis of the stick the invariable axis. The point of contact represents the pole of the instantaneous axis itself, travelling many times round the stick before it gets once round the hoop. It is easy to see that the direction in which the hoop moves round the stick, so that if the top be spinning in the direction
