Why Does Spinning Enhance Stability in Physics?

[Ritz_physics]

If I place a bicycle wheel on the floor, it flips over and falls down... Same is with the toy top.
But when the wheel or the top spin, they remain stable. Can someone please explain the physics behind this?

 

[Mech_Engineer]

The answer is angular momentum, as seen in a top or gyroscope. When a mass is spinning changing the attitude (angle) of that body takes work, so a spinning mass is stabilized in an orientation by its angular momentum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_momentum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_effect