18
1
EXPERIMENT
3
On edge
You will need
– Gyrobot’s head
Here’s how
1. Place the gyrobot’s head on a flat surface
with its eyes facing up toward the ceiling and
the edge of the back of its head resting on
the surface. Do not put the head
completely upright, but tilt it slightly to the
side. Do not turn the gyroscope on yet.
2. Let go carefully. What happens?
3. Now turn on the gyroscope inside the head
and wait for it to get up to its top speed.
4. Now position the head on the surface as in
step 1. Hold it in place for a little while and
then gently let go. What happens?
With the gyroscope turned off, the gyrobot’s
head falls over. The reason for this is
gravity,
which is a force that pulls all bodies and
objects on Earth toward the center of the
Earth. It is thus also referred to as
gravitational pull. This arises from the fact
that the Earth is much heavier than all the
bodies on it. The more massive an object, the
stronger its pull on other objects. Due to
gravity, things on Earth always fall toward the
surface of the Earth and do not “fall” away
from the Earth.
With the gyroscope turned on, the head no
longer falls over. It turns slowly in its slightly
tilted position. Again, it is the gyroscope’s gyro
effect that makes the head balance on its edge
like this.
The gyroscopic effect even holds
the entire gyrobot in position against the
force of gravity! If the head begins to tilt due
to gravity, the gyroscopic effect directs it back
to its axis of rotation.
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