Degrees of Freedom (mechanics) - Six Degrees of Freedom

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:

  1. Moving up and down (heaving);
  2. Moving left and right (swaying);
  3. Moving forward and backward (surging);

Rotation

  1. Tilting forward and backward (pitching);
  2. Turning left and right (yawing);
  3. Tilting side to side (rolling).
See also: Euler angles

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.







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