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Re: Loaded dice



Bob Sciamanda wrote:

Yes, but that is because the axle is held fixed. If you merely drop the
loaded wheel into free space, there is no favoring the loaded point - or is
there?


Instead of a wheel, consider an asymmetrically loaded bowling ball. If dropped
with no rotation, there will be no net torque due to gravity about its Center
of Gravity (by definition). The ball will not rotate in the air (neglecting air
resistance). However, when striking the ground the Center of gravity will
probably not be over the contact point so there will be a net torque resulting
in a lowering of the CG. This will result in oscillations until enough work is
done on the local environment to bring the ball to rest with the CG near the
bottom. Dice are just balls with corners :-)

Bob at PC