As I said in a recent post gyros work by inertia, they warp the centrifugal
force of the rotating object when another axis of rotation (precession) is
applied that will create a third axis of rotation (unless precession is forced)
called nutation and that third axis will take the gyro in a spiraling motion to
the last place the precession was forced.
Now for how those forces are created, Two examples
Example 1.
fixed width font:
fig.1
A I
I ^upwards motion of disk
I
v---I---^ axis
I
*
I
B I
I ^upwards motion of disk
I
v---*---^ axis
I
I
I
C I ^upwards motion of disk
*
I -^
--I-- axis
v- I
I
I
Legend * = point on disk I= disk - = axis of primary
rotation ^ = direction of motion or force is upwards v = direction of
motion or force
downwards
As the point on the disk that we are tracking moves upwards the second axis of
rotation (clockwise) causes the point to make a turn, so there is an inertial \
centrifugal force to the right.
fig.2
*
*
* ^
*
*
path of point over time
This happens on both sides of the disk pushing the top half to the right and the
bottom to the left, this creates a third rotational axis (unless forced), this
axis aligns
the second axis of rotation with the first until they are perfectly in line.
Example 2.
fig.3
< l <
III l III
I I l I I
I I l I I
vI o I^==============o I ^
I I l \ I I
I I l \ I I
III l \ III
> / \ >
/ \
/ \first axis
second axis
anti-clockwise as seen from above
this works by unbalancing the centrifugal force of the second axis by that of
the first, the tangential velocity of the disk to the left is greater on the
bottom as the
primary rotation of the disk adds to the tangential velocity on the bottom but
subtracts from the top half, on the right disk the force is greater on the top
as the
motion adds to the tangential velocity of the second axis and hence unbalances
the centrifugal force, this creates a toque that if not forced to precess will
create a
nutation which will persist until there is only rotation.
John Berry
Vano wrote:
> Grant Fraser wrote:
>
> > Here is a simpler explanation:
> >
> > A spinning object develops "rigidity in space". If it were at rest all
> > of its energy would by "potential". When it is spun, some of its energy
> > is "kinetic".
> > A spinning top has a separate momentum from the earth. An early proof
> > that the earth turns was made by running a gyroscope for a day. Because
> > of rigidity in space, the gyroscope appeared to turn once around. We
> > know actually that it was the planet that turned and not the gyroscope.
> > You could make a clock from one but at $30,000 I wouldn't recomend it.
> > If you spun your launch vehicle at a high enough rpm, the energy
> > required to lift it would be considerably reduced.
> > (I'll bet that if you spun it hard enough it would it would just sit
> > there while the planet raced away from it. Anybody here an expert on
> > material science?)
>
> Anybody can shed more light into the nature of gyros ? URL's, text
> files, and specially equations are welcome !!!
> ( we never studied gyros in the university nor in school ! )
>
> Also, a note that in airplanes gyros are used as compasses meaning that
> using only motion one can know where north is, and from what Grant has said,
> maybe someone can tie gyros with the aether !!!