ON THE FREE MOTION OF A VISCOELASTIC BALL

When analyzing the influence of the elasticity of a body on its free motion about the center of mass, it is common to assume that the maximum period of elastic vibration of the body, T1, the characteristic time of decay of this vibration, T2, and the time scale of the motion of the body as a whole, T3, satisfy the inequalities T1 < Ti and T2 < T3. In the present paper, we study the free motion of a viscoelastic body with the same assumption as regards the elastic vibration. Unlike the problems considered previously in which the refinement of the rigid model involved allowance for the elastic properties of the body, we study a situation in which both elastic and viscous properties are essential. The problem of the motion of a viscoelastic body about its center of mass can be of interest, for example, in connection with the interpretation of Chandlerʹs nutation of the Earth.