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Rotation or rotational motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an axis of rotation. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersecting anywhere inside or outside the figure at a center of rotation .
Rotation of an object in two dimensions around a point O. Rotation in mathematics is a concept originating in geometry. Any rotation is a motion of a certain space that preserves at least one point. It can describe, for example, the motion of a rigid body around a fixed point.
Rotation around a fixed axis or axial rotation is a special case of rotational motion around an axis of rotation fixed, stationary, or static in three-dimensional space.This type of motion excludes the possibility of the instantaneous axis of rotation changing its orientation and cannot describe such phenomena as wobbling or precession.
The equations of motion describe the movement of the center of mass of a body, which remains at a constant distance from the axis of rotation. In circular motion, the distance between the body and a fixed point on its surface remains the same, i.e., the body is assumed rigid.
Earth's rotation axis moves with respect to the fixed stars (inertial space); the components of this motion are precession and nutation. It also moves with respect to Earth's crust; this is called polar motion. Precession is a rotation of Earth's rotation axis, caused primarily by external torques from the gravity of the Sun, Moon and other bodies.
Rotational frequency, also known as rotational speed or rate of rotation (symbols ν, lowercase Greek nu, and also n), is the frequency of rotation of an object around an axis. Its SI unit is the reciprocal seconds (s −1 ); other common units of measurement include the hertz (Hz), cycles per second (cps), and revolutions per minute (rpm).
In physics, angular velocity (symbol ω or , the lowercase Greek letter omega), also known as the angular frequency vector, [1] is a pseudovector representation of how the angular position or orientation of an object changes with time, i.e. how quickly an object rotates (spins or revolves) around an axis of rotation and how fast the axis itself changes direction.
Retrograde motion in astronomy is, in general, orbital or rotational motion of an object in the direction opposite the rotation of its primary, that is, the central object (right figure). It may also describe other motions such as precession or nutation of an object's rotational axis .