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Momentum

Why does a figure skater spin faster 
when they move their arm closer to 
their body? How does the Earth 
behave like a top?

In the following experiments you will 
learn about another property of 
gyroscopes and flywheels called 
momentum.

11

Gyroscopes & Flywheels

Summary of Contents for Gyroscopes & Flywheels

Page 1: ...uttgart Germany 49 0 711 2191 0 www kosmos de Thames Kosmos 301 Friendship St Providence RI 02903 USA 1 800 587 2872 www thamesandkosmos com Thames Kosmos UK Ltd Goudhurst Kent TN17 2QZ United Kingdom 01580 212000 www thamesandkosmos co uk EXPERIMENT MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...e are eight possible insertion slots in the rip cord gyroscope for the rip cords Use only one at a time Please note the markings on the top and bottom of the gyroscope housing which indicate the direction in which to insert the rip cords Do not insert the rip cord into a slot if the gyroscope is still spinning The wheel with the rubber ring is the drive wheel This is the wheel that provides the fi...

Page 3: ... B 1 7026 W10 S2D 19 3 hole wide rounded rod black 5 7404 W10 C1D 20 3 hole wide rounded rod green 3 7404 W10 C1G2 21 3 hole cross rod 3 7026 W10 X1D 22 7 hole flat rounded rod 2 7404 W10 C3G2 23 7 hole wide rounded rod 2 7404 W10 C2G2 24 Anchor pin lever 1 7061 W10 B1Y 25 13x3 Frame 2 7406 W10 A1D 26 Arm flat rod 2 7395 W10 E1TD 27 45 degree curved track 4 7395 W10 F1 28 Sloped track 4 7395 W10 F...

Page 4: ...ing robot 9 This robot spins around and around Momentum 11 Balancing robot 12 Introduction to friction and inertia Rip cord gyrobot and track 13 Build a model that uses the gyroscope and flywheel engine to move along the track Additional track designs 18 Breakdancer 22 Exploring angular momentum Headspinning breakdancer 24 Conservation of angular momentum Flywheels 27 Motorcycle 28 Introduction to...

Page 5: ...s tools to help scientists study Earth s rotation Today gyroscopes are used in many applications such as compasses flight instruments and stabilization devices 4 How is a spinning top able to balance on one small point How does your smartphone know to change the orientation of its screen when it is turned on its side Both of these things work because of gyroscopes and gyroscopic forces In the foll...

Page 6: ...or disk in the gyroscope is spinning Try balancing it on its corner WHAT S HAPPENING Do you feel the force that makes it so difficult to tip the gyroscope What you re experiencing is something called the gyroscopic effect It arises when an object the rotor disk in this case spins very rapidly The force that you feel when you tip the gyroscope is the gyroscope trying to maintain the disk s axis of ...

Page 7: ...cts The more massive an object the stronger its gravity Earth s gravity acts so strongly on us because it is so large compared to us Earth s gravity pulls all objects near Earth toward its center of gravity The spinning top stays balanced because of the gyroscopic principle which says that a spinning object tends to stay in its plane of rotation unless an external force acts on it The gyroscopic e...

Page 8: ...anced HERE S HOW 1 to 6 Assemble the model 7 First without starting the rotor inside the gyroscope spinning try to balance it on the stand a few times 8 Insert one of the rip cords into the slot in the side of the gyroscope Pull the rip cord Now try to balance the gyroscope while the rotor is spinning What do you observe Gyroscopic forces YOU WILL NEED 2 1 3 2 4 5 6 1 7 4 23 31 16 17 18 24 19 22 2...

Page 9: ...roscopic effect keeps the spinning gyroscope from falling over However the gyroscope will react to external forces applied to it by changing the direction of its axis of rotation This change in the orientation of the rotational axis is called precession Even as the rotor is spinning around the axis of rotation the axis of rotation itself is rotating around a second axis Electronic Gyroscopes How d...

Page 10: ... in space its arm is located A gyroscopic sensor helps the robot do this The sensor works based on the principle of how gyroscopes respond to forces pushes and pulls This experiment demonstrates how this works in principle 1 2 3 4 5 CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE Flip over Flip over 9 Gyroscopes Flywheels EXPERIMENT 4 1 5 6 9 10 12 13 14 15 31 16 18 24 26 22 29 6x 2x 4x 4x 2x 1x 1x 1x 2x 1x 1x 2x 1x 1x 1x...

Page 11: ...del spins in the direction that the disk is spinning So how is the factory robot able to use a gyroscope to find its arm s position It does this by measuring the amount of torque that a gyroscope inside the arm experiences when it turns and using the torque measurements to calculate the distance and direction the arm moved HERE S HOW 1 to 8 Assemble the model 9 Pull the rip cord so that the rotor ...

Page 12: ...er spin faster when they move their arm closer to their body How does the Earth behave like a top In the following experiments you will learn about another property of gyroscopes and flywheels called momentum 11 Gyroscopes Flywheels ...

Page 13: ...he model down on a flat smooth surface See how far the model travels 6 Now insert rip cords into both the gyroscope and flywheel engine Pull both rip cords at once or start with the gyroscope and place the model down How does the distance it travels this time compare to before WHAT S HAPPENING From your previous experiments you saw that a gyroscope resists changes in its axis of rotation This resi...

Page 14: ...d momentum 1 2 7 8 6 9 10 11 13 14 15 23 30 31 16 17 18 24 19 25 20 26 27 21 28 22 29 17x 3x 6x 3x 4x 4x 1x 2x 1x 1x 1x 2x 2x 1x 2x 2x 4x 4x 2x 1x 1x 5x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x HERE S HOW 1 to 5 Assemble the rip cord gyrobot model Test this model by spinning both the gyroscope and flywheel with the rip cords Does it balance and move forward Note This model is intended to be used with the track included in ...

Page 15: ...hute This structure acts as a chute to help you quickly load the rip cord gyrobot onto the track so it s easier to get the gyrobot perfectly positioned and running on the track before its gyroscope rotor or flywheel run down too much 6 7 8 9 14 EXPERIMENT 7 ...

Page 16: ...CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 12 11 10 Launchchute 15 Gyroscopes Flywheels EXPERIMENT 7 ...

Page 17: ...4 15 16 U turn trackassembly 13 to 18 Now assemble the track Follow the instructions here to build the U turn track design There are nine other track configuration suggestions on pages 18 20 16 EXPERIMENT 7 ...

Page 18: ... an incline without assistance WHAT S HAPPENING The gyroscope keeps the gyrobot from falling off the track and the flywheel engine transfers power to the wheels to move the model forward along the track You added energy to the system with your pull of the rip cords The energy is then used to spin the gyroscope and flywheel which keep spinning due to their momentum Momentum is a measure of an objec...

Page 19: ...1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 18 EXPERIMENT 8 ALTERNATE TRACK S turn track S turn track ...

Page 20: ...CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 1 2 7 8 3 4 5 6 19 Gyroscopes Flywheels EXPERIMENT 9 ALTERNATE TRACK Himalaya track Himalaya track ...

Page 21: ...urnbyturn track Go to this web address for step by step assembly instructions for these track configurations http goo gl xIQ9Ow I is a capital i not a lowercase l and O is a capital o not a zero 0 EXPERIMENTS 10 16 MORE TRACK IDEAS 20 Zigzag track Seesaw track ...

Page 22: ...moving in a straight line it has what is called linear momentum The momentum of an object is conserved This means that the amount of momentum in a closed system a system in which no energy is lost or converted always stays the same For example when two billiard balls collide momentum is transfered from one of the balls to the other in the form of a change in their velocities but the total amount o...

Page 23: ... 29 10x 3x 2x 1x 1x 2x 2x 1x 1x 2x 1x 1x 2x 1x 2x 2x 1x Spinning around How about when an object is spinning does it have momentum Yes However when an object is spinning the momentum is called angular momentum and the physics becomes more complex 1 2 3 4 22 EXPERIMENT 17 ...

Page 24: ... product of an object s mass and speed But when calculating angular momentum the speed of the object s rotation around its axis as well as how the mass is distributed relative to its axis of rotation must be considered These factors have important effects as you will discover in the next experiment HERE S HOW 1 to 7 Assemble the model 8 Insert the rip cord into the slot in the gyroscope Hold the b...

Page 25: ...x 2x 1x 2x 1x Conserving angular momentum If you have ever seen figure skaters spin around with their arms outstretched and then bring their arms in close to their bodies you will see that when they bring their arms close to their bodies they start spinning faster Why do you think that happens 1 2 3 4 5 24 EXPERIMENT 18 ...

Page 26: ...ia changes the speed of rotation must change too You can try this out yourself if you have a rotating desk chair Sit in the chair with your arms out straight to the sides Have a friend or family member give you a push to start you turning Immediately pull your arms in close to your body You will speed up Put your arms out again and you will slow down HERE S HOW 1 to 8 Assemble the model 9 Place th...

Page 27: ...as the height from which the marble was released on the first incline only just a little lower Even when Galileo made the inclined planes as smooth as possible he found that the marble never rose as high on the second plane He reasoned that there must be something acting on the marble preventing it from reaching the same height He had discovered friction Galileo reasoned that if the second incline...

Page 28: ...e This spinning disk is also called a flywheel and it has other applications in addition to gyroscopes A flywheel is a heavy disk that is used to store rotational energy The energy can then be used to drive machines This kit contains a device with a flywheel that drives a pair of wheels the flywheel engine In the following experiments you can use the flywheel engine to power vehicle models A flywh...

Page 29: ...Motorcycle YOU WILL NEED 1 7 9 10 11 30 31 24 20 26 5x 3x 2x 1x 2x 2x 1x 1x 3x 1x 28 EXPERIMENT 19 1 2 3 4 5 ...

Page 30: ...d in the flywheel and is slowly transferred to the two wheels to drive the model As the two wheels turn and make the model move forward the flywheel transfers its rotational energy to the wheels As the flywheel loses energy it slows down eventually stopping HERE S HOW 1 to 7 Assemble the model 8 Insert the rip cord into the slot in the flywheel engine Hold the model pull the rip cord and place the...

Page 31: ...Trike motorcycle YOU WILL NEED 1 7 5 9 10 12 30 31 24 19 20 26 21 22 5x 2x 2x 1x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 2x 1x 1x 1x 30 EXPERIMENT 20 1 2 3 4 5 ...

Page 32: ... More energy from the flywheel engine goes toward overcoming that extra friction so the model may not travel as far However because of the improved stability the model may be less prone to skidding out so it may actually drive farther See for yourself how your model behaves HERE S HOW 1 to 7 Assemble the model 8 Insert the rip cord into the slot in the flywheel engine Hold the model pull the rip c...

Page 33: ...on than the source of the original torque can provide on its own The original energy source can slowly increase the speed of the flywheel which will store energy and thus build up rotational speed The flywheel can then release its fast rotational energy very quickly when needed Flywheels can also help provide smooth continuous rotational energy to a machine when the original energy source is jerky...

Page 34: ...Artikelnummer 665106 03 270516 ...

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