AronYstad
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- Why does a gyroscope topple over at different rates depending on how fast it's spinning? I read that it's friction, but I don't understand that.
I tried to understand why gyroscopes fall over more slowly the faster they spin, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. So I tried looking for threads about it, but I only found people saying friction is the reason why the gyroscope topples over. And I guess that might be the main reason if it's spinning really quickly, but it doesn't really make sense to me that that would be the only reason.
Imagine the classic bicycle wheel setup, where you have a spinning bicycle wheel that is free to pivot around a point on its handle. Now imagine that without friction. If the bicycle wheel isn't spinning at all, it's obviously gonna just fall over due to gravity. There's nothing holding it up. Now imagine you spin it ever so slightly, say 1 revolution per year or something ridiculously tiny like that. I wouldn't expect it to start spinning around in circles forever just because the setup is frictionless. I'd still expect gravity to make it fall. And now, make it spin faster. It's gonna start precessing, but I'd expect it would still eventually fall over, just more slowly, as seen in a setup with friction.
What is the reason behind this behaviour? Is it friction, and in that case, how does that work?
Imagine the classic bicycle wheel setup, where you have a spinning bicycle wheel that is free to pivot around a point on its handle. Now imagine that without friction. If the bicycle wheel isn't spinning at all, it's obviously gonna just fall over due to gravity. There's nothing holding it up. Now imagine you spin it ever so slightly, say 1 revolution per year or something ridiculously tiny like that. I wouldn't expect it to start spinning around in circles forever just because the setup is frictionless. I'd still expect gravity to make it fall. And now, make it spin faster. It's gonna start precessing, but I'd expect it would still eventually fall over, just more slowly, as seen in a setup with friction.
What is the reason behind this behaviour? Is it friction, and in that case, how does that work?