Rotation around a fixed axis the same mass and velocity of rotation. Like linear momentum, angular momentum is vector quantity, and its conservation implies that the direction of the spin axis tends to remain unchanged. For this reason, the spinning top remains upright whereas a stationary one falls over immediately. The angular momentum equation can be used to relate the moment of the resultant force on a body about an axis (sometimes called torque), and the rate of rotation about that axis. Torque and angular momentum are related according to just as F = "d"p/"dt" in linear dynamics. In the absence of an external torque,
Variable-mass system to the center of mass of the body, and v is the velocity of the body. In astrodynamics, which deals with the mechanics of rockets, the term "v" is often called the effective exhaust velocity and denoted "v". There are different derivations for the variable-mass system motion equation, depending on whether the mass is entering or leaving a body (in other words, whether the moving body's mass is increasing or decreasing, respectively). To simplify calculations, all bodies are considered as particles. It is also assumed that the mass is unable to apply external forces on the body outside of accretion/ablation