Bicycle Wheels - Suspended



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 Code Number :   1Q50.21  

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Reprinted by permission of Dick Berg, University of Maryland, for use on this website.

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Condition :   Fair   
Principle :   Conservation of Angular Momentum about Vertical Axis  
Area of Study :  Mechanics  
Equipment :   Bicycle wheel and gyroscope with strings attached to the axels. 

Procedure :   Some oiling and adjustment of the bicycle axle may be required. Keep loose clothing away from the spinning bicycle wheel.  Stop the spinning wheel by touching to the floor.  

Placing ropes at two different positions on the handle will give you two different precession rates.

The blue Gyroscope may be used in place of the bicycle wheel when dealing with smaller kids.

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   References
 

Walter Connolly,  "The Suitcase Gyroscope - An Angular Momentum Device,"  TPT, Vol. 25, # 4, p. 231, April 1987.

 

Harold A. Daw,  "A Large Demonstration Gyroscope,"  AJP,  56, # 7, July 1988.

 

Mu-14,  Freier and Anderson,  A Demonstration Handbook for Physics.

 

M- 706,  "Single & Double Bicycle Wheel,"  DICK and RAE Physics Demo Notebook.

 

Julien Clinton Sprott, Physics Demonstrations,  "1.16 Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope",  p. 45, ISBN 0-299-21580-6.

 

5.3.6, "Precession,"  Cunningham and Herr,  Hands - On Physics Activities with Real Life Applications.



Mail Questions and Comments to:  Dale Stille