Gyroscopic Propulsion: Could Gyroscopes Levitate Objects?

[crockman1]

could gyroscopes be used to produce upward linear thrust? or be used to push something along at least? i was looking at an attempted recreation of teslas flying stove and i was wondering if powered gyroscopes could be placed at what he referred to as "eccentrics" to produce upward momentum and make the machine levitate. here is the site:

[crackpot link deleted]

a cool concept worth looking into. i am trying to figure out if such a device could be effective in overcoming its own weight, or at least producing some sort of displacement of inertia causing it to move in a straight line in some direction?

 

[russ_watters]

No, there is no way an internal device can produce an external force. That would be a violation of several laws of physics, such as conservation of energy and Newton's laws of motion.

Tesla wasn't quite the crackpot people think he was - things like the site you linked probably are improperly attributed to him because he is a popular "mad scientist".

 

[Astronuc]

It would appear that the momenta of the rotating masses cancel. As much momentum is going upward outside as is going downward inside, or vice versa.

It would make more sense to use turbines to blow air downward.

 

[Danger]

I can't speak about your link, since it has been deleted, but I totally agree with Russ and Astronuc. The thing would be working against itself. The only way to extract any energy from a gyroscope is if you have some even stronger external source powering it.

 

[epv]

If an internal device can not create an external force, would shifting(pumping) a mass like a liquid between tanks at either end of a vessel in space, shift that vessel back and forth in space?

 

[gonegahgah]

If you had a device that was already floating by force down (eg hovercraft) and had fast internally spinning fly-wheels on opposite sides spinning in opposite directions (from the sides that is: left side clockwise; right side anti-clockwise), would the device remain fixed over the one spot? Or would it move horizontally?
If you had just one flywheel on one side of the hovercraft would the craft show any twist or remain stationary?

 

[russ_watters]

If an internal device can not create an external force, would shifting(pumping) a mass like a liquid between tanks at either end of a vessel in space, shift that vessel back and forth in space?

Sort of. The center of mass of the system never moves, though. That's the point of my statement.