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WFU Physics Lecture Demonstrations
Bicycle Wheel Gyro
PIRA 1Q50.20
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Image:
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Description:
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"The angular momentum is a vector pointing along
the axis about which the gyroscope spins (in a sense given by the right-hand
rule). In the absence of external torques, the direction as well as the
magnitude of this vector will remain constant. Friction produces a torque
that decreases the magnitude of the vector and eventually causes the gyroscope
to stop spinning. Gravity produces a torque perpendicular to both the
axis of the gyroscope and the vertical, and thus causes the horizontal
precession. On a less abstract level, the precession can be explained
in terms of the downward pull of gravity that tries to make the wheel
rotate faster at the bottom than at the top. Since the wheel is rigid,
this can happen only if the wheel moves horizontally in the direction
in which the bottom of the wheel is spinning. The earth is a large gyroscope
that precesses once every 26,000 years due to the gravitational torque
exerted by the sun on the slight bulge at the equator."
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Recipe and
Location:
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Bicycle Wheel
Rope Attatchment
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Video:
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MPG Video:
None
Real Video:
None
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Notes:
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Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics
Waves
Thermodynamics
E&M
Optics
Modern
Astronomy
Information
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