Gyroscopes in nature
Have you ever wondered how a
fly can buzz around a room and
instantly change direction many
times without losing control
of itself? Flies have an organ
called a haltere that acts like a
gyroscope allowing the insects
to detect their rotation during
flight.
Conservation of
Momentum
The
momentum
of an object is directly related to the
amount of mass of the object and how fast the object is
moving in a specific direction, or its velocity. The faster
and heavier the object, the more momentum it has. When
an object is 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 of momentum of the two balls stays
the same. However, it is not a perfectly closed system, so
some momentum is lost to the friction between the balls
and the table and the balls and the air, and even to the
sound waves released when they hit.
Momentum is transferred betw
een
the balls in a Newton’s cradle
.
21
Gyroscopes & Flywheels
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