Gyroscopic Precession

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Recommends Saurabh · 2012-07 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Double gyroscope: Can a spinning pencil tumble on only one axis?”

The body is rotating around two axis $x$ and $z$ So,the angular momentum along those direction get add up to $L_{resultant}$ which causes the rod to slightly dis-align from the $x$-axis as seen from the top along $y$-axis In detail what happens is when we rotate the rod along $x$-axis and then apply a torque $\tau_z$ for small amount of time in $z$ direction which builds up the angular momentum in $z$ direction.By intuition we tend to think that the rod will continue spinning in $x$ axis and in the same time will rotate about $z$ axis.But that's not true because if rod rotates in $z$ direction then $L_x$ will change (in direction not in magnitude) without the application of any torque which

Recommends Floris · 2015-01 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Boomerang physics and aerodynamics”

Let me try this another way (knowing that you are 16 helps in tailoring the reply...!). I don't know if you are familiar with a gyroscope: that's a fast spinning disk that appears to be able to "stand upright". If you tilt it, then it doesn't fall over - instead its axis slowly spins around in a motion called "precession". You can see a nice demonstration of this in this youtube video [this video] Now a boomerang is a bit like a gyroscope: it is spinning around and has angular momentum. Because it's shaped like a wing (in cross section) it creates some "lift" for itself which would normally keep it flying. BUT: there is something that makes the boomerang change its angle. That "something" is TORQ

Recommends Martin · 2017-01 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Help understanding a result from Euler's laws of rotation”

Useful links that I werent allowed to post in topic: Good quick intro to gyroscopes: [this video] A more thorough walkthrough: [LINK] A fast summary of the above video: [LINK] A more detailed derivation, including an effect that was neglected without mentioning in the previous: [LINK] Furthermore I found the chapters in the book mentioned in topic really, really useful.

Recommends Viradeus · 2020-05 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Can someone please explain Gyroscopic precession?”

So I watched this video [this video] It is a fairly popular one by veritasium, and one that confused me. I was wondering if someone can cover the physics behind this in a intutitive and easy to understand manner. I understand torque and angular momentum come into play here, but what I don't get is the vector pointing away from the wheel(the right hand rule). I spent a lot of time thinking but it just doesn't make sense. Edit: Ok so I realized that this may be confusing. I particularly want to know why the angular momentum vector is perpendicular to the plane of rotation.

Recommends JustBeingHelpful · 2020-09 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why does torque point perpendicular to direction of the motion?”

Why does torque point perpendicular to direction of the motion? Physicists often say they use first principles thinking, but in order to come up with those first principles, they always use real world observations and create equation(s) to explain the observation, but sometimes cannot explain the fundamental reason behind the observation which gave rise to the equation. In three dimensional space, there are two possible orthogonal vectors (torque vector in this example) relative to another plane (rotating object in this example). The torque vector could potentially be in either direction, thus it's counterintutitive. Our universe (from what humans observe from Earth and outer space in our so

Recommends Cort Ammon · 2020-10 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why don't we use the concept of axis of mass in place of center of mass?”

Because it does [LINK] . Precession is one of the ways a rotation axis can change, and gyros precess. Veritassium has a good video [this video] on it.

Recommends Al Brown · 2021-09 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “What are centripetal forces for flywheel precession movement?”

The force $G\sin(\theta)$ creates a torque that, on its own, would tend to rotate the spinning axis about the point where the top touches the table. This adds a torque to an object that already has significant angular momentum. This added torque, by $\tau = d ~ G\sin = J \vec{\alpha}$ adds it’s angular momentum, $M$ in the figure, by the right hand rule of $\vec{d} \times \vec{G}$ . That $M$ is being added the existing angular momentum vector $L$ . The vector sum moves $L$ to $L+dL$ as shown. But the direction of $M$ keeps changing . So even though there is an apparent rotation in the precession motion, it is part of a larger $\omega$ . It does not need a centripetal force because it is not

Recommends Farcher · 2021-11 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why does a precessing wheel remain horizontal, instead of flipping?”

Shouldn't the wheel go down while spinning at the same time ? It does. The axle tilts so that the wheel (and Earth's) gravitational potential energy decreases (centre of mass of wheel moves down towards the Earth) to provide the extra kinetic energy of the wheel due to the precession. Watch the video Veritasium - Gyroscopic Precession [this video] from $3:05$ at a speed of $0.25\times$ and you will see that the axle of the wheel which is horizontal just before release becomes inclined after release.

Cites Jaywalker · 2016-01 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “What exactly is a torque?”

I know there are a number of questions concerning torque [LINK] on this site, but I still don't quite understand what it is. A video by veritasium on gyroscopic precession on you tube [this video] really got me puzzled about the nature of torque. Perhaps I have some terminology errors which account for my lack of understanding, but assuming I roughly know what I am talking about when I say torque, my questions are: What can torque be described as? (Is it a force, energy, etc.) How can its vector be perpendicular to the force applied? Is this the conclusion drawn from some mathematical work or is there some other logic behind it?

Cites Smit Chaudhary · 2016-02 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Which force acts as centripetal force on gyroscope?”

I think I have understood gyroscope in terms of angular momentum and how the torque of gravitational force moves it the way it does. Also I understand the direction in which it would move: What determines the direction of precession of a gyroscope? [LINK] And the working : [LINK] I saw a couple of videos about it: [this video] [LINK] Note how the wheel rotates around. So the Centre of Mass of the wheel goes around the wheel in a horizontal circle. Which force acts on the system of Rod and the Wheel that makes it perform circular motion? I see it analogous to a particle performing circular motion or a rod being rotated about one of its end (a compound system). Since the string attached would only