Precession Gyroscope - Physics Demonstrations - Precession Gyroscope | Physics Undergraduate Labs

Purpose

A spinning flywheel precesses under gravitational torque. Sliding the counterweight along the shaft changes the torque, allowing students to see how precession rate depends on $\tau/L$ .

Precession gyroscope with a brass flywheel on the left end of a horizontal shaft, a sliding egg-shaped counterweight on the right, mounted on a vertical post with a round wooden base

Figure 1: The precession gyroscope: a brass flywheel (left) is spun by a drill motor with friction wheel. The egg-shaped counterweight slides along the shaft to vary the applied torque.