What forces are at work with held spinning/rotating objects moving through space

322 views

Example, if you are holding an object in your hand that is spinning and you move your arm in a certain direction the object will feel heavier and in the opposite direction it will feel lighter. I assume it’s related to or caused by centrifugal force but have never heard a name for it.

In: 1

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Mmn, you are looking at gyroscopes and gyroscopic precession.

The thing to keep in mind is that a spinning object wants to keep spinning along the same axis because of angular momentum. If you hold the thing at any point that isn’t in line with the center of gravity that creates torque. And if that torque isn’t adding to or subtracting to the spinning it is trying to change the direction of the axis it’s spinning on. And in a very counterintuitive way that will force the direction of the applied torque to change direction.

As for why it feels heavier or lighter think of holding a broom stick. If you are holding it vertically it’s not too bad. But if you point it forward now you have to support the weight of the stick which hasn’t increased, and keep it from rotating and it feels harder to hold.

Now think of holding a spinning bicycle wheel from only one side of the axle (if you haven’t done this maybe look up some videos). It’s the exact opposite. If you let the wheel precess sideways you only have to support the weight of the wheel, and don’t have to spare any strength keeping it upright. The wheel keeps itself vertical with the tradeoff that it now rotates around horizontally. If you try and force the thing to stop rotating horizontally you then have to resist that torque. Just instead of up and down the force is left to right.

You are viewing 1 out of 3 answers, click here to view all answers.