A gyroscope rotor maintains the direction of its plane of rotation unless an external force of sufficient amplitude to overcome inertia is applied to alter that direction.
What are factors on which gyroscopic inertia depend?
Gyroscopic inertia depends upon the momentum of the spinning rotor. The momentum of such a rotor depends upon three main factors:
- The total mass, M of the rotor (for all particles).
- The radius r summed as the constant K (for all the particles) where K is the radius of gyration.
- The angular velocity.
Precession
Precession is the term used to describe the movement of the axle of a gyroscope under the influence of an external force. If a force is applied to the rotor by moving one end of its axle, the gyroscope will be displaced at an angle of 90° from the applied force
