Bike Wheel Gyroscope

Introduction

The bike wheel gyroscope demonstrates an important conservation law of physics; the conservation of angular momentum, or turning motion.

Big Picture:

• Motion

• Inertia

• Velocity

• Momentum

• Torque

Principles:

• The Conservation of Angular Momentum

  • The law of conservation of angular momentum states that when no external torque acts on an object or a closed system of objects, no change of angular momentum can occur.

• Motion- a change in position of an object with respect to time. Motion is observed by attaching a frame of reference to a body and measuring its change in position relative to another reference frame.

• Moment of Inertia- a mass property of an object that measures its resistance to acceleration arising from rotation about an axis. An object that is rotating at constant angular velocity will remain rotating unless acted upon by an external torque.

• Angular Velocity- the angular velocity is defined as the rate of change of angular displacement and is a vector quantity which specifies the angular speed (rotational speed) of an object and the axis about which the object is rotating.

• Angular Momentum - a vector quantity that represents the product of a body's rotational inertia and rotational velocity about a particular axis. The angular momentum of a system of particles (e.g. a rigid body) is the sum of angular momenta of the individual particles.

• Torque- the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object.

Angular momentum in terms of scalar and vector components.

Relationship between force (F), torque (τ),momentum (p), and angular momentum (L) vectors in a rotating system.

Safety Regulations

• Don't try to stop the wheel while it's spinning really fast