Spinning

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Strong rec Cort Ammon · 2017-03 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Using a gyroscope to get to space”

It would continue to be oriented in a straight line -- its orientation would not change as the earth rotates (like the orientation of most objects would). However, it is still subject to the forces of gravity acting upon its center. These would still pull the gyro to the ground. Gyroscopes resist being deflected. If you put one side of the gyro up on a pedestal, the pull of gravity would not be able to cause the gyro to torque down (instead it torques to the right), but it's still being held up by the pedestal. When in doubt, I defer to VSauce. His explanation of gryos [this video] is most excelent, and addresses some of the effects you are thinking of.

Strong rec Hritik Narayan · 2017-05 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “How would I explain why a top wobbles to someone who has never taken a physics course?”

This video is absolutely amazing: [this video] (Spinning, by Vsauce) (added as a comment because my answer apparently violated policy...)

Recommends BioPhysicist · 2018-09 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Is it possible to understand the Gyroscope Effect Intuitively?”

The reason is because the wheel is spinning (hear me out). You have to keep in mind that the particles on the wheel have some velocity, and when a force is applied it changes that velocity, but this doesn't mean the velocity becomes aligned with this force. The effect of gravity and the support of the wheel is that the top of the wheel will be pushed to go one way (say right) and the bottom will be pushed to go another way (say left). However, the top of the wheel has a velocity (say into the page), and so the rightward force on the top will make the wheel rotate. The same can be said at the bottom of the wheel. If it helps, just think of a single particle of the wheel and imagine pushing on

Recommends BioPhysicist · 2019-10 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Angular momentum without any apparent torque”

My doubt is that, since the wheel is revolving around the vertical axis, there must be a component of angular momentum in the vertical direction. Remember that the wheel is spinning i.e. the wheel is not a stationary disk that is rotating about the vertical axis. If you were to take into account the rotation of the wheel around its own axis as well as its rotation about the vertical axis, you would find that its angular momentum is changing consistent with $\boldsymbol \tau=\dot{\mathbf L}$ , where $\boldsymbol\tau$ is the torque of the wheel's weight about the point where its axle touches the vertical axis, and $\mathbf L$ is the angular momentum about this same point. I remember this video

Recommends aditya_stack · 2019-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Why don't spinning tops fall over?”

This [this video] is a good edutainment video which covers pretty much exactly what you want. TL;DW the top does fall over in the end (unless it was perfectly straight initially which is impossible), but instead of just dropping it to the floor, it's axis precesses until it touches the ground.

Recommends Devansh Mittal · 2019-12 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Rotational Mechanics: Is Angular Acceleration Possible without any External Torque?”

Angular Acceleration is not the same as Translation Acceleration. Translational Acceleration in an object cannot come without any external force, but the angular acceleration in an object may come without any external torque. External torque is NOT the only source of angular acceleration. Angular acceleration in a rotating body may come even when the moment of inertia of the body is changing. Let's consider a simple case in which a car is moving on a straight road and an observer is seeing the car from a distance. In this case, the car will have a variable angular velocity w.r.t. the observer and hence an angular acceleration as well. In this case, we do not ask the question that which torqu

Recommends Steeven · 2020-11 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Is the torque on a gyroscope a conventional virtual force perpendicular to rotation?”

This is a good question. Gyroscopic precession is also what has baffled me the most of all classical mechanics I've encountered. The force comes from the inertia of the spinning mass. Gravity tries to make the gyroscope (the top) tilt and fall straight down. But while falling down it also spins. The particles at the lower part of the periphery thus experience falling sideways . As they all have this tendency, they collectively turn and the gyroscope as a whole starts turning in a horizontal plane. In the next moment this exact same thing happens. And just like with circular motion, the turning takes place as infinitesimal changes while the system simultaneously adjust, so that there is no ma

Recommends Berello · 2021-08 · Physics Stack Exchange · on “Can the fish topple the bowl?”

Yes, the fish can topple the bowl, exploiting friction. You can find robots based on gyroscopes that can topple their case, like the Cubli (you can find a video here [LINK] ). They can do that from the inside of the case, without external moving parts. The box could even be closed and opaque, hiding the "magic" behind it: it would still work. [LINK] That would be very difficult to do for a fish, but you said your fish is strong enough, thus it could hypothetically push a large amount of water and make it spin very fast inside the bowl; the friction between the high-speed water and the glass of the bowl will make the bowl rotate, too. About the other question (whether the center of mass can m