Is gyroscopic translation possible?

[Recon777]

Reaction wheels on a spacecraft can orient the craft but cannot translate it through space, right? Well, I was watching this video which talks about the effect of gyroscopic procession.

At this point of the video, a very interesting thing caught my curiosity. By applying angular force to a spinning flywheel, the wheel itself appears to move perpendicular to the plane of procession. The quote in the video is this: "If you force a gyroscope to process faster, it lifts up."

So, I must be missing something because from that statement alone, it would seem that you could take a flywheel that is on the end of a rotating shaft and apply motor force to the shaft, thus forcing it to process faster, thus translating your craft forward in space without any propellant. Is this for real or am I missing something?

[regex]

Norman Dean? Is that you?

[DerekL1963]

Reaction wheels on a spacecraft can orient the craft but cannot translate it through space, right? Well, I was watching this video which talks about the effect of gyroscopic procession.

At this point of the video, a very interesting thing caught my curiosity. By applying angular force to a spinning flywheel, the wheel itself appears to move perpendicular to the plane of procession. The quote in the video is this: "If you force a gyroscope to process faster, it lifts up."

If you watch the video, the gyro in the demonstration doesn't actually rise - it rotates about the pitch axis of the support structure. The appearance of moving perpendicular to the (assumed) plane of precession is caused by the actual vector of precession (after the force is applied externally by the demonstrator's hand) being different from the planes the movement of the gyro is constrained to by those supports, so some of it comes out in the pitch plane, some in the roll plane.

[Mr Shifty]

And you'll note that the total weight of the apparatus, which represents the total translational force on it, doesn't change at all.

[arkie87]

Reaction wheels on a spacecraft can orient the craft but cannot translate it through space, right? Well, I was watching this video which talks about the effect of gyroscopic procession.

At this point of the video, a very interesting thing caught my curiosity. By applying angular force to a spinning flywheel, the wheel itself appears to move perpendicular to the plane of procession. The quote in the video is this: "If you force a gyroscope to process faster, it lifts up."

So, I must be missing something because from that statement alone, it would seem that you could take a flywheel that is on the end of a rotating shaft and apply motor force to the shaft, thus forcing it to process faster, thus translating your craft forward in space without any propellant. Is this for real or am I missing something?

This clearly wouldnt be possible if the gyroscope is floating in space. The reason it lifts is because of the force applied by the person or object supporting its weight in the first place. If you could do this, it would violate Newton's laws of motion.

[Guest]

Gyroscopes may be magic, but Conservation Of Momentum have Total Magic Immunity.

[K^2]

Just to try and clarify a little, forcing gyro to precess faster is like applying a torque to a regular rigid object. It can use that torque to lift itself on a support (pivot), but it's the reaction force from the pivot that's doing the lifting.

[arkie87]

Just to try and clarify a little, forcing gyro to precess faster is like applying a torque to a regular rigid object. It can use that torque to lift itself on a support (pivot), but it's the reaction force from the pivot that's doing the lifting.

Very clear and concise explanation. Have some rep!

[Recon777]

Norman Dean? Is that you?

lol wut?

If you watch the video, the gyro in the demonstration doesn't actually rise - it rotates about the pitch axis of the support structure. The appearance of moving perpendicular to the (assumed) plane of precession is caused by the actual vector of precession (after the force is applied externally by the demonstrator's hand) being different from the planes the movement of the gyro is constrained to by those supports, so some of it comes out in the pitch plane, some in the roll plane.

Ahh, yes, of course. That makes sense. So it's not actually moving in a straight line, and only rotates about a center point, which if inside a spacecraft would just make the craft rotate but not actually get anywhere. Ah well.