The gyroscopes tag has no wiki summary.
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1answer
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Physics of the point of contact for a spinning top
I understand how spinning tops don't tip over, cf. e.g. this and this Phys.SE questions. What I'm more interested is in identifying the factors that determine the direction the spinning top moves to?
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2answers
445 views
What causes precession or nutation in a spinning object?
What causes precession in a spinning object?
What causes nutation in a spinning object?
What causes a top, gyroscope, and the earth to wobble?
Just because it's a simple question, I'm not ...
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1answer
68 views
Gyroscope bombardment
Let's say I have a spinning steel ball that I have somehow managed to be completely free in all axes of movement. If I fire a BB at it with enough force on a north-south (to the ball) angle, what will ...
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3answers
584 views
What determines the direction of precession of a gyroscope?
I understand how torque mathematically causes a change to the direction of angular momentum, thus precessing the gyroscope.
However, the direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, of this ...
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1answer
206 views
what happens when I roll a gyroscope along its axis of spin
Say:
I have a gyroscope that is spinning in the xy plane along the z axis.
I then roll its spinning axis by some angle theta
Now I know the gyroscope will resist my attempting to change its axis ...
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0answers
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propeller flying physics for the layman
I'm starting a (quad?)copter build, and i can find plenty of knowledge about stabilizing the craft and things related to gyroscopy.
but there's absolutely zero information on things that help me ...
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2answers
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Space Rocket Lift Efficiency and the Gyroscope?
I'm no physicist apart from basic 3d web animation, I'm just curious and please feel free to correct my misuse of terms or inadequate speculations.
I've been reading a lot on gyroscopes and ...
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1answer
226 views
Double gyroscope: Can a spinning pencil tumble on only one axis?
Picture an object such as item 7 on this page .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_moment_of_inertia_tensors
Call that the x axis and z is in to the distance. See diagram below.
We are in deep ...
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1answer
137 views
Will a precessing spinning whell fall down if there is no friction at all?
If there where no friction at all, would a spinning wheel held up by one end of the axis spin precess forever without falling down?
I just asked another question about the same problem:
Direction ...
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3answers
802 views
Direction of torque precession of a spinning wheel
Consider a spinning wheel, which is held up by one end of it's axis like this:
To explain why the change of angular momentum is directed as shown in the figure above, one usually says that there is ...
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1answer
68 views
Looking for the name of a particular device [closed]
Please move this if it's not in the right location.
I'm looking for the name of a device that I frequently see in many scenarios, specifically that of an office/library which can be described as ...
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1answer
685 views
How do bikes stay upright? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why doesn't the bike fall if going with a high speed?
How does a bike stay upright? I know there are various theories involving castor effects, and gyroscopic motion ...
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3answers
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Why are spacecraft made to “spin” after launch?
At some point after launch, usually just before or after separation from the last booster stage, spacecraft are often made to "spin" (about the axis of their trajectory)? See e.g this You Tube video. ...
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1answer
313 views
Equation that tells me the rpm and mass of a spinning disk needed to keep a second large mass stable using gyroscopic effects
I am trying to figure out how large of a mass and how quickly I need to spin said mass to keep a two-wheeled robot stable. Ideally, I am looking for a formula that relates m1=mass of robot, m2=mass of ...
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2answers
440 views
how can you keep a gyroscope turning?
I'm trying to understand how do gyroscopes and cmgs used for navigating keep on spinning even though there's friction. Any engine/pushing mechanism I can think of will restrict the gyro's rotor to a ...
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2answers
423 views
How are Euler's laws of motion applied to gyroscopes?
Euler's laws of motion for a distributed mass are:
$$F = \frac{d}{dt} MV_{cm},\ N = \frac{d}{dt} L$$
$F$ are the sum of the external forces, $M$ the total mass, $V_{cm}$ the velocity of the centre ...
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6answers
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How do you explain spinning tops to a nine year old?
Why don't spinning tops fall over? (The young scientist version)
My nine year old son asked me this very question when playing with his "Battle Strikers" set. Having studied Physics myself, I am very ...
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1answer
244 views
resistance of a flywheel to change of angular momentum
I've got a flywheel with angular momentum $\vec L$. Now I'd like to change the orientation of $\vec L$ by an angle $φ$ (in degrees). How do I calculate the angular momentum $\vec M$ for that change?
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1answer
519 views
Mech stability through gyroscope
I recently read up about gyroscopes, angular momentum and mechs (the big Cockpit controlled robots) and was wondering if it would be possible to get a stable walking mech (only as example, not meant ...
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8answers
4k views
Why don't spinning tops fall over?
One topic which was covered in university, but which I never understood, is how a spinning top "magically" resists the force of gravity. The conservation of energy explanations make sense, but I don't ...
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1answer
448 views
acceleration of rings in aerotrim (human gyroscope)
I'm working on a graphic simulation (just for fun, for an open-source screensaver) of an Aerotrim - a "human gyroscope", one of those exercise/training machines with a human in the middle, perched on ...
