I heard about "laser gyro" used in IRS/inertial reference system on aeroplanes but always wondered how they work. This video is a perfect explanation. Thanks!

Bicycles are actually not significantly stabilized by the gyroscopic effect, there is a nature paper where they built a non-gyro bicycle and it still is stable. Stabilization mostly comes from the steering wheel being front and the back-tire following. ...also wow, the fibre optic gyro is magic.

It is a very common misconception that the gyroscopic effect keeps a bicycle upright while in motion, but it’s actually the caster angle of the front wheel. If you locked the wheel straight ahead, a bike would fall over almost immediately, no matter how fast it was going. The low mass of the wheels, and they’re slow rate of revolution makes their gyroscopic effect negligible relative to the mass of the bike, especially with a rider.

Nice video. I worked on the old Sperry Mk 19 gyrocompass and later the Mk 27 in the US Navy. Lots of little bits to 'apply torques' to them. They also used a speed input from the ship's log to minimize 'steaming error'. But we had to manually set the latitude. I'm sure the modern laser with GPS feed are a lot less prone to failure. Oh, and a 'fun' detail, the Mk 19 could be switched into 'high latitude' mode where it stopped trying to seek north and just acted like a gyroscope. That was a lot trickier to navigate with :)

I now really curious how flat-earthers cover up gyroscopic precession

"magnetic compass adjusters would be an entire video on it's own" I can't wait! That sounds neat

Never knew about fiber-optic Gyroscope till now, even though I have experience with the "default" Gyroscope as an ex-mariner.

Its really funny how KZfaq is marking this video as Flat-Earth content 🤣 Amazing work as always, thank you very much!

I am a merchant marine officer and wanted to thank you for these great videos. I use them in my drills regularly and the crews are getting interested and curios about further topics. Thank you very much and bon voyage at all times.

Gyroscopes really defy intuition but I love learning about them and their applications.

I'm pretty sure that last part about bikes is wrong. Yes, the wheels technically act like gyroscopes but that's not what keeps the bike upright. The way the wheel is mounted does. Car tires are even deliberately mounted at an angle to make the steering wheel revert back to neutral on its own. If the gyroscopic effect was responsible for the stabilization, it would have to make regular steering incredibly hard. But more importantly, driving straight ahead would still only be a metastable state, it would just take more work to tip it. But bikes are a (relatively) stable system, they can drive downhill on their own without falling over.

The odd thing about bicycles, is that when you want to turn, you actually steer the front wheel away from the turn. This causes an instability and allows the bike to fall into the turn, and as it does, it becomes stable again. Amazing, you don't even know you did it.

I work on a tug boat, we have a Anschuetz gyrocompass equipped. Thanks for this informative video!

«A fifteen degree per hour drift.» Thanks Bob!

Careful with the bicycle example, the gyroscopic effet does not grant stability, merely some inertia. In fact, you can replace the wheels with ice skates and it works just fine. The fork angle is also a minor effect that helps, but it is not necessary since you can build a bicycle with a vertical fork and it also works fine. The true modelisation of why 2 wheelers stand upright is actually a feedback of the torso-arms-handlebar system that feeds back a counter-steering correction by the simple act of the rider keeping his torso in apparent vertical position ( apparent because it incorporates tge side acceleration vector when turning). As proof, you cannot turn on a bike by turning the handlebar in the direction you want to go like in a car; you have to lean into the curve to automatically start a counter-steering. My dad spent 40 years of mechanical engineering teaching to model and use this. 😅👍

Never been this early for a Casual Navigation video.

True north, magnetic north and grid north. Good stuff the army taught me.

Video: *is about gyroscopes* KZfaq: "Flat earth alert! Flat earth alert!" Good video though, wasn't aware of the need for damping nor did I know of the fibre optic one.

Awesome video, gyroscope compasses have worked on black magic for me up till now!

2:35 - Wow, never knew gyros are in reference with the universe. Makes sense.

Had lessons about it today. Indeed a beautifull device.

It's a really nice and informative video. Thanks for the video.

I really look forward to these videos coming out. This was your usual helpful, informative style but went over my head one too many times I'm afraid. Really tricky to follow this one at times. Thanks for the great work and look forward to the next one.

Very well described

Learning something new everyday tyvm

"When something has angular momentum we also say there's a torque present." Um no. that's like saying, "When something has momentum we also say there's a force present." Force is the time rate of change of momentum, and torque is the time rate of change of angular momentum. What you actually described next was the direction the applied torque needed to point to build up the given angular momentum. "The new torque and the gyroscope's original torque..." No.

The light emiting/reception gyro is inside your phone in a small integrated circuit as well. Gyros are awesome

2:50 Earth rotating the wrong way ;) Nice video.

Definitely interesting Thankyou

Superb video of the topic,thank youu!!

Awesome as always, Thank you

Damn, now I want a fiber optic gyroscope!

I would be very interested in a video about compass adjustment.

0:25 this reminded me very much of The Missile, which knows where it is. At all times.

2:50 Pretty sure that the Earth is spinning in the opposite direction. PS: Thanks for your great content

Great video.

Wow, that was a very interesting presentation! Thank you, more please. I think I learned something, a very complicated subject is gyro navigation. Too complicated for my small brain. I have experienced the gyro effect, most people have I would think. Anyway, the connection of gyro force to bicycles wheels has led me to a question. Any vehicle with wheels has a contact patch, this contact with the surface on which it travels creates "traction". Traction is an effect created by weight and contact (=friction), the more weight per square inch, the better the traction, the more friction, i.e., less slip (generally). On a bicycle, to change direction one "counter steers", tipping the bike over and then adjusting the steering angle to follow the intended path and maintain balance. Steering or counter steering does two things, one, adjusting the balance of "uprightedness" and two, counter acting, or overcoming the gyro effect. Maybe this isn't a question, maybe this is an argument. The force of traction is much much higher than a gyro force, probably 1000 (10,000?) times as forceful. It is possible to crash a bicycle, if the gyro effect had much (a lot of) force, it would be virtually impossible to crash, or to turn for that matter. I guess what I believe, and I may be wrong, it is not the gyro effect that keeps one upright on a bicycle, it is simply balance, balance that is intentionally and directly controlled only by traction supplied by the contact patch and rider input. Turn the handles the wrong way or wrong amount and down you go. Now if the bicycle was floating in a fluid, like the air, we'd really have something the gyro effect could impart it's force. And a hovering bike would be fantastic, lol. Anyway, thanks for creating this video, keep them coming, I find boats and ship fascinating. Maybe because where I live, water is a solid much too much of the year and virtually impossible to ride a bike in a foot or two of not quite solid snow. Get me outa here (sobbing).

Did anybody notice that the earth was spinning the wrong way around at around 3:20? Really great video anyway!

The mistake starting around 3:00 is that the Earth's rotation is the opposite of what it should be. With the north pole pointing towards the viewer, earth rotates anticlockwise in our reality where any point on the surface moves eastward. This results in an inconsistency in the torque in the animation as well, where the right hand rule leads to an inconsistent result. As always, great video! Pointing out that there is a mistake in the animation is a fantastic educational device, come to think of it, and made me pay closer attention.

Great video!

The effect that brings the North - South line in the graduated chart aligned with the site meridian is known as Gyroscopyc Inertia which is a condition the gyro reaches after a while the core reaches it's operative "speed" in RPM. Of course, time to reach individual gyroscopic inertia depends on gyro compass make and model. Thank you.

6:50 Actually bike doesn't necessarily act like a gyroscope (for more information see Veritasium's video)

Bicycle wheels as gyroscopes: I just watched a video disproving that. When a bicycle's steering is locked it's impossible to stay upright on it no matter how fast you're going. The reason a moving bicycle can remain upright is because the rider is, consciously or unconsciously, making constant steering corrections in order to keep the bicycle underneath them. The steering is built so that it naturally turns in the direction that it leans. If the steering moves freely the bike will stay upright even without a rider as long as it keeps moving forward. With the steering locked it falls over immediately. There is no gyroscopic effect keeping it up.

Not sure why KZfaq feels the need to tell me about the "flat Earth model," but here we are. I have known since the '80s about magnetic north and it moving, but I've never seen it charted before. Thank you for that! Also, neat to learn more about the gyro-compass.

Cool video. The part about bicycles is a common misconception, though. Veritasium did a video about this.

Dziękujemy.

good effort bro, really nice video. thanks

"GPS can be used to correct nearly all errors made by a mechanical compass". Never would have imagined. :D

When drilling long tunnels i.e like the Eurotunnel between Great Britain and France, gyroscopes are used to determine where one is and in which direction ones has to drill to meet the other tunnel face

Cool, was just wonder if the coriolis effect in water drains could signify towards the equator and perhaps be used as a emergency compass of some kind. Not exactly what I had in mind but pretty cool none the less.

WE NEED MORE VIDEOS!!! Every Friday of every month Good stuff thanks 👍

I shan't be cruel and criticise the several (and extremely unusual for this channel) mistakes in it, as others have already pointed them out. But thanks for making me smile, as well as explaining optical gyros to me!

*gives a faulty example of gyroscopic stabilization, gets called out* simultaneously, in same video, people taking the explanation that gyroscopic precession is caused by earth rotation for granted. Amazing.

I love this channel. One of my top favorites.

I loved the sextant videos on your other channel, so this is a treat 😍

The gyro effect on bikes is supposedly overblown, with active countersteering being a more important factor. No knock on your video here, everyone "knows" that bike fact and as far as i can tell everything else here is accurate. Thanks and merry xmas

Caster is what keeps two wheeled vehicles up.

I just wanted to say before I randomly clicked on one of your videos I had absolutely no interest in ships or naval terminology/fun facts but you just explain things so well in a concise format that I've actually become a fan and it has become an area of active interest for me. Keep up the good work.

Put a line in a fixed bench 2 days ago, drew a line in marker pen along the edge. Today North, is 10 degrees out , on my fixed timber bench. So we in UK are moving West from North . We have the chance or recording these readings and seeing where the polar move has gone.

I don't understand any of what you said, but it was enjoyable

Thank you, i've regularly wondered about how modern gyros work and now i know and can answer if my kids ask. Thank you for seeming smart to my kids :D

That fiberoptic gyro feels more like science fiction rather than science.

Last friday!!!!!

Thanks

bike actually doesn't fall not because gyroscope effect that defiantly have place but more due to сetrifugal force that appears every time you turn the wheel.

You should do a video about what is a baby’s citizenship if it was born aboard a ship.

Gyroscopic stabilization has almost no effect on bicycles. Bicycles are stable because of the angle of the axis that steers the wheel with the ground. Falling left will cause you to turn left, making centrifugal force to the right that stops you from falling left, and vice versa.

Interesting

If you had a very accurate map, and connected some clever mechanical arms to the gyro you would have a mechanical GPS, but its accuracy over time would be based on how much resistance the mechanism makes, the less the better

Fun thing about using a GPS input to auto-correct the gyro errors: On the Prinsendam in 2013-2014, we had a GPS used for that but its position liked to "wander off" at random times; sometimes going as far as showing speeds of 70 knots (quite impossible for a 200m cruise ship). The calculated correction would thereby become WAY wrong, making the gyro and therefore all connected equipment wander around as well; including the North-Up stabilization of the RADAR screens. Effectively this caused a situation where all equipment on the bridge would start being wrong together; with the exception of the depth sounder. The location where this happened: Chilean Fjords where there are quite some currents; at night without navigational aids on shore; narrow waterways, but very deep so the depth sounder wouldn't be able to give sufficient warning either. Suffice it to say... Not quite ideal... 😅

How do you keep friction in the gyroscope gimbals from throwing off the gyrocompass? Seems like even a tiny bit of fraction would add up over several days to enough to mess you up. Also the ship pitching and rolling in heavy weather would cause problems, since this is much faster angular change than the rotation of the Earth (even though the velocity is much lower).

Little nitpick, but Veritasium recently made a video about thr gyrodscopic effect on a bycycle's stability. It is present. But it's a tiny part of the whole. Bycycles are stable because the ridr is constantly correcting it. Also because the fork has a self stabilizing caster angle.

Could you do that video about magnetic compass correction? :)

BIKE RIGHTING MOMENT AS A GYRO WAS DEBUNKED. It's the front wheel tilting action that keeps a bike upright.

BIKE RIGHTING MOMENT AS A GYRO WAS DEBUNKED. It's actually the angle of tilt of the front wheel that keeps bikes upright.

The optical gyro cube is also how the inertia guidance system works out acceleration and direction.

Back when I did landscaping I used a compass a lot. With much bewilderment from my boss. Knowing what direction is what comes in very useful for cleanups when using blowers. As should be evident, you do not want to work against the wind. My boss would simply go by the old "rises in the east, sets in the west" generalization. I used a compass in order to be more accurate and so that I didn't have to remember. My preferred compass was a lensatic compass, mainly because they fold up and are thus protected. edit: cardinal typos

Thank you messieur , would you mind to tell us sth about meteorology in navigation.

One question. I understand the gyro-compass will orient itself with Earth's axis, but how do you know where is south and where north? It could be either way.

I saw a flat Earth video that claimed if the Earth were a spinning ball then gyroscopes should behave in a certain way. He was correct about that at least. I think his mistake was assuming the do not behave that way. I sent him a link to a pilot training video that describes this behavior and what pilots should do to compensate for it. He replied back with the claim that NASA makes them that way. I knew saying "no they don't" wouldn't work, so I suggested he build his own gyroscope to see how it behaves, but I never heard back from him. When you want to believe something badly enough...

6:55 - that's actually a myth. You can build a bike with a counter-rotating flywheel that cancels the bike's angular momentum, and it will still stay upright. A bicycle can sustain its stability by the gyroscopic effect, but only at extremely high speeds.

Are we absolutely sure the new torque arrow is pointing that way at 3:29? Because you spun the gyro upside down during the transition, should the arrow not point down relative to the screen? Or am I just very drowsy at 3am?

Happy Thanksgiving and Amazing Video I dare it

3:45 I believe the mistake is that the arrows are in the center of rotation

5:45 So, did #LIGO had to take the Sanyak effect into consideration as potential inteference?

👍

Well yes, but _how do you keep them spinning for weeks_ without manipulating their alignment??

alternate title: melt your brain in 7 and a half minutes

You say the gyrocompass points north. Is that accurate, or is it aligned with the north-south axis of the earth? How can we tell which end points north and which points south. And, how about in a ring laser gyroscope?

I'm just wondering how the heck do you keep that wheel-thingy spinning forever?

You promised the video on the last Friday of the month and you delivered.

One question. The geographical north pole is closer to the magnetic south pole right? Otherwise the deflection of the compass changes with the south being the north and the other way round. I am not sure if my question is correct. Feel free to correct me.

"relative to the universe" physicists: "the what?"

I probably shouldn't but, once again I'm amazed by the parallels, commonalities, and cross transferred technologies, customs and procedures.

neat

i don't have enough braincells to process anything from this video and yet i still enjoyed watching it's entirety! all your videos are genuine interesting and informative, thank u :•)

Good job KZfaq. I get a "Flat earther" info banner under the video.

Uh-oh, math, science and the "curvature of the earth" ? Be careful, the lunatics might discover your excellent channel !

The gyro thing needs corrections as well in space craft due to the C value as well as gyros tendency to flip well rotating in 0g it's a lot more complex then a ship gyro :D

"A 15° per hour drift..." Thanks, Bob!