🔬#MESExperiments 17: Gyroscopes Can Even Rise on a Slanted Needle

Math Easy Solutions

description

In #MESExperiments 17 I demonstrate that even on a slanted needle a gyroscope can magically rise on its own. This demonstrates that a gyroscope's self-balancing mechanism does not require a vertical, symmetrical, or even centered base to precess about. The needle was tilted at 24° and the starting gyroscope tilt angle was 32°; note that both angles are measured from the vertical. The gyro, as on the vertical needle in Experiment 16, rises very quickly and this time rises in 23 seconds.

This experiment also illustrates the magical behavior of gyroscopes to modify their “inertia”, effectively disappearing and reappearing their “mass”. This is shown by initially the gyroscope precesses with zero horizontal movement of the overall needle/clamp base but then magically regains this “mass” as the gyro speed slows down and spirals downwards while moving the entire base aggressively to the left and just before the gyro throws itself off. Magical stuff!

The original unedited gyro video is shown here: https://youtu.be/2tkkiGtsnpI

The sequence of events is listed below as well as the screenshots of the experiment.

Needle tilt angle from the vertical: 24°
Initial gyro angle: 32°
Time to rise: (0:28 - 0:05) = 23 seconds.
Sleep time: (1:06 - 0:28) = 38 seconds.
Time to fall: (1:18 - 0:05) = 1:13 = 73 seconds.

The weight of the gyroscope is 100.29 grams and the needle width is about 0.5 mm. For screenshots of the experiment progression, make sure to check out the accompanying Hive post: https://peakd.com/mesexperiments/@mes/mesexperiments-17-gyroscopes-can-even-rise-on-a-slanted-needle

Stay Tuned for #MESExperiments 18…