Thursday, August 11, 2005

Gyroscopes

Check out the gyro car and the gyro train.

They are two wheeled vehicles like motorbikes that use gyroscopes and precession to stay upright, even when they're stationary. They work by having a reasonably sized gyroscope mounted in the vehicle. Tilt sensors detect the vehicle starting to tip over and apply a force to the spin axis of the gyroscope. Precession causes this force to be translated by 90 degrees, righting the vehicle.

More (and probably better) information is provided by HowStuffWorks.

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