• Question: Are any of you fascinated by gyroscopes, I know I am.

    Asked by metemercan2011 to Andrew, Daniel, Hayley, Natalia, Peta on 25 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Hayley Smith

      Hayley Smith answered on 18 Nov 2011:

      Yes – gyroscopes are really cool!
      They work on the principle of conserving angular momentum – and this concept is key to much of physics so to me it’s a really clear example of how something that was invented a long time ago has real implications in modern life – for instance, they’ve been used in all sorts of modern devices WiiMotes and Segways but also in more large scale structures like space stations…

    • Photo: Andrew Cairns

      Andrew Cairns answered on 18 Nov 2011:

      Gyroscopes are one of the technical applications for the materials that I work on – they are incredibly sensitive essentially mechanical components that are critical in, for example, satellites. The development of essentially incompressible and non-expanding composite materials would be very useful indeed!

    • Photo: Daniel Scully

      Daniel Scully answered on 18 Nov 2011:

      I read about a satellite which had really sensitive gyroscopes in it, they were so precise they used it to measure how much the amount water in the Amazon river changed over a year.

      So they were measuring the amount of water there from its gravity! That’s incredible!

    • Photo: Peta Foster

      Peta Foster answered on 25 Nov 2011:

      Gyroscopes are fascinating… what is even better to hear is that you are fascinated! Being fascinated by something sciency means you’re a very good egg in my book 😀 Being curious, enthusiastic and fascinated is the best qualifications a scientist can have in my opinion 🙂

      Keep enjoying the science 😀

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