Six Degrees of Freedom
The motion of a ship at sea has the six degrees of freedom of a rigid body, and is described as:
Translation:
- Moving up and down (heaving);
- Moving left and right (swaying);
- Moving forward and backward (surging);
Rotation
- Tilting forward and backward (pitching);
- Turning left and right (yawing);
- Tilting side to side (rolling).
The trajectory of an airplane in flight has three degrees of freedom and its attitude along the trajectory has three degrees of freedom, for a total of six degrees of freedom.
Read more about this topic: Degrees Of Freedom (mechanics)
Famous quotes containing the words degrees and/or freedom:
“Pure Spirit, one hundred degrees proof—that’s a drink that only the most hardened contemplation-guzzlers indulge in. Bodhisattvas dilute their Nirvana with equal parts of love and work.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Freedom to think our own thoughts, freedom to utter them, freedom to live out the promptings of our inner life ultimated in this convention, was termed a monstrosity of the 19th century. What was it?—the legitimate out-birth of the eternal law of progress. This reformation underlies every other; it is the only healthful centre around which hope of humanity can revolve.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)