gyroscope

Gyroscope

ALTERNATIVE NAME/S: Gyro

DETAILS:

A wheel or rotor, mounted in a set of rings which permit it to turn in any direction. In the 1850s French physicist JB Foucault* demonstrated that the spinning wheel kept its original orientation in space regardless of the Earth-s rotation. This meant that gyro could be set to always point in the same direction and then be used to direct other devices to do so. This idea was made practical in 1909 by the American engineer Elmer Sperry* when he marketed the first gyroscopic autopilot for ships. Unlike the magnetic compass, the gyro was not affected by the metal in the ship-s hull.

Subsequently, Sperry’s gyrocompass was used to permit extremely accurate fire control of the guns on naval vessels, because even in a pitching sea, the up, down and sideways motion would not affect the gyro. It is also in use in every airplane.

In 1852, Foucault used a gyroscope in an experiment demonstrating the rotation of the Earth.

The most spectacular example of these ‘inertial systems’ was perhaps the one which guided Apollo 11 all the way from Earth to a Moon landing within yards of the designated touch-down point.

ONELINER: The gyroscope is a a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity

OTHER CONNECTIONS: None

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Wikipedia (see animations)

Connections II #5