Have you ever played with gyroscopes? This little stuff is like a magic. As long as the center keeps rotating at a high speed, it is a tumbler. If you give it a fulcrum, you can not only tilt it, but also stand on a thin line or even rotate on the tip of a pen. I can play it all day.

The history of gyroscopes

What we usually say and play with the gyroscope is a simple mechanical device, which is connected by a gyro rotor and the rotating axis, and the periphery is composed of two brackets. Gyroscope is a device that moves along one or two axes with the momentum inertia of a high-speed rotating body. Its main characteristics are stability and axis fixing. Small gyroscopes are everywhere and indispensable. They are used in mobile phones, VR glasses, somatosensory games, airplane balance and other products. Gyroscopes are also called balance artifact.

And there was also an interesting heating appliance called the incense burner in olden days. The magic of this censer is to put the heating charcoal fire in the center. No matter how the outside ball rotates, the charcoal fire pot in the middle will always remain horizontal under the action of gravity. The function of the universal support is to ensure that the balance state of the objects inside is not disturbed, which is the same as the structure of gyroscope.

In ancient times, there was another kind of toy called bamboo dragonfly, which was also called gyroscope. The term "gyroscope" was first put forward by French physicist Boko. In English, it means "revolving body" along the axis. Therefore, this kind of revolving body rotating along the axis in the air is also a kind of gyroscope. In this way, the rotating disc, playing plate and the earth in acrobatics are all kinds of gyroscopes It can be called a top.

The middle part of the gyroscope is the familiar gyroscope. If we know the reason why the gyroscope controls the balance, will we know the secret of the balance of the gyroscope?

China is the hometown of gyroscope. It is one of the oldest folk toys in China. It has attracted generations of people. The traditional top is made of wooden inverted cone. The rope is wound around the top, and the rope is pulled to make it rotate continuously. There are various ways to play the top, such as drawing circles, lasting rotation, throwing long distance games, etc. the rules of the game are also different according to different playing methods 。

In recent years, a new playing method of gyroscope is popular among young people. This fingertip gyroscope is quietly becoming popular. It is very similar to the traditional gyroscope. It only needs a few fingers to make it rotate.

People have been looking for the ultimate state of eternal rotation and balance of the gyroscope. Although this kind of balance is difficult to achieve, but in real life, it is possible to keep the gyroscope in balance for a long time.

The principle of gyroscopes

When we play the gyroscope, the wire winding the gyroscope should be around the center of gravity of the gyroscope. The center of gravity of the gyroscope is two-thirds of the upper plane. If it is not wrapped in this position, the pulling force of the gyroscope and the winding direction of the rope will swing up and down, which makes it difficult for the gyroscope to revolve around a stable one It's very difficult to rotate when the axis of.

If it is wound around the center of gravity of the gyroscope, all the power can be transferred to the center of gravity, and the rotation speed can be maintained at high speed. Each point on the gyroscope and the point symmetrical to the rotation axis carry the same centrifugal effect at the same time. Because the center is located on the rotating shaft, the deflection influence of the center of gravity on the rotating shaft can be minimized and the rotation stability can be greatly increased, and then keep the gyroscope perpendicular to the ground for a long time.

If you want the gyroscope not to collapse, you have to make it rotate at a high speed. The speed of the gyroscope is generally tens of thousands of times per minute. This speed must be fast enough, and the rotation axis will always point to a direction stably. No matter how the peripheral bracket rotates, the gyroscope inside can still maintain its original directivity.

In fact, the gyroscope is a high-speed rotating gyroscope, and the flexible rotation anti-interference universal bracket, which can indicate the direction in the dynamic state of the shaking space.

Other types of gyroscopes and application

After the invention of gyroscope, it was first used in aircraft, and then used in missiles. Using the gyroscope to determine the direction and angle, the flight path can be calculated, thus the attitude control can be carried out.

Do you think that the mobile phone gyroscope reduces the mechanical gyroscope to be installed on the main board of the mobile phone. In fact, we can never underestimate the power of science and technology. Now there are laser gyroscopes, fiber optic gyroscopes, and micro electromechanical gyroscopes. Although they are also called gyroscopes, their principles are completely different from those of mechanical gyroscopes.

Laser gyroscope

The principle of laser gyroscope is to measure the rotation angular velocity by optical path difference. In a closed optical path, two beams of light transmitted in clockwise and counterclockwise directions emitted by the same light source interfere with light. By detecting the change of phase difference or interference fringes, the rotation angle velocity of closed optical path can be measured. It is mainly used in aviation, aerospace, national defense and other high-end fields.

Fiber optic gyroscope

The principle of fiber optic gyroscope is to detect the phase difference of two optical paths by the change of optical path, and then the angular velocity of optical path can be measured. It is mainly used in aviation, navigation, aerospace, national defense industry and agriculture.

MEMS of MEMS gyroscope

It is usually used in mobile phones and other electronic products. There are usually two movable capacitor plates. The radial capacitor plate and the oscillating voltage force the object to move radially. The transverse capacitance plate measures the capacitance change caused by the lateral movement, so the angular velocity can be calculated from the capacitance change.

Therefore, the mobile phone gyroscope is also called angular velocity sensor. It is mainly used to measure the rotation angular velocity of deflection and tilt.

The traditional inertial gyroscope is mechanical, and its precision is not very high. With the development of technology, more and more chips are used to realize the function of gyroscope. It is generally used in aerospace, mobile phone, navigation and other fields with high precision and high sensitivity, and the results are more complex.

Today's gyroscopes seem to be tall and tall, but we can see everywhere in our lives. The wheel on the bicycle moves along the central axis, which becomes a gyroscope. So as long as the wheel rotates, the cyclist will not fall down. There are gyroscopes in the animal kingdom. As shown in the figure below, it seems that the gyroscope is not only exclusive to human beings.

Therefore, gyroscopes are not only used in mobile phones, but also used in navigation, aviation and aerospace, missiles, satellite carriers, national defense and other fields, and ground facilities, mine tunnels, underground railways and oil drilling are inseparable from it. In life, gyroscopes are needed in the fields of car guidance, mobile phone, environmental monitoring and so on.