Aristos Queue Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 I have a weird art project in mind involving spinning tops, but I have no idea what the physical requirements are to make it work. The Internet has been no help -- a lot of the sites either describe how to build one particular gyroscope or they're fairly advanced physics books that assume you already know the basics. Here's what I'm hoping someone on LAVA can answer: A spinning disk or top resists being knocked over. Assume that the spin is motor powered so it doesn't stop spinning. Is there some formula that relates the mass of the disk and the rate of its spin to the height of the stand that it will support on its own? Are there other relevant physical quantities that affect height? To some degree, the spinning disk resists being knocked over by a sideways force. How do you compute how much force the disk will resist and then right itself? Quote Link to comment
ShaunR Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 (edited) It's been a long time since I was at school (where we covered this sort of stuff) but I think you are asking about torque and angular momentum. Edited August 1, 2013 by ShaunR Quote Link to comment
todd Posted August 1, 2013 Report Share Posted August 1, 2013 (edited) No math, but here is a fun (brief) discussion of gyroscopic precession: Some math: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession Edited August 1, 2013 by todd Quote Link to comment
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