As a physics grad, I just want to commend you on making understanding physics accessible to many people with very little oversimplifying. This is one of your best videos for sure.

There's no channel that consistently surprises me nearly as much as this does. There's always something new - to me - in every video. Either it's the thing being demonstrated, like this video, or a surprising result of an experiment, or a really intuitive explanation of a phenomenon I'd seen for years. It's the beauty of science - and the world in general - that there's always something to learn, and this is a great place to come for just that.

I've wondered about these balls for years (decades maybe?). I always assumed there was something about precession that I didn't understand, which allowed the work to be backfed into increased RPM. Turns out it's actually about the shaft rolling along those races in the ball. Man, this was like pulling a splinter that's been stuck in my brain since I first playd with one of those things. Thank you!

I remember reading about a practical joke, Perhaps done on "Candid Camera" where they placed a gyroscope on a briefcase with lots of sound insulation and asked people to carry it to another office. The briefcase kept trying to point away from the intended direction and it was a s if a ghost was trying to wrestle it away. The victims tended to become quite alarmed.

“Now that we know how that works, we can get even more confused” I love this way more than I should

I remember applying WD40 in an attempt to make one of these to go faster. I ended up with a floppy powerball that wouldn't accelerate and it was ruined. This explains it.

PhD in physics here and was sort of wondering about these toys for years, loved to use them, never quite got curious enough to research it myself (weirdly enough)... That was great. 🙂👍🏼 Really tied some loose ends. Thx 🙏🏼

I hardly ever comment on your videos, but I wanted say thank you for making them. They have generally been very informative and you make it fun to learn about these topics.

*your way of explanation simplifies even most complex phenomenons*

I had to smile watching this. We've been selling Powerball worldwide since 1998 and have often been asked for the science behind the concept. You nailed it nicely here, thank you. Our customers also often make the mistake of oiling their Powerball in the hope that it'll make the rotor spin faster...a big no-no as you've demonstrated here. All is not lost if you've done so however; TWO deep cleans of all internal components with isopropyl alcohol (while holding the parts with tissue paper to avoid any further contamination with natural hand/finger oil) will do the trick and restore the natural friction once again (two full cleans mind...once isn't enough if you've oiled any part of the internals). Opening the ball can also be done by pressing down on the shell around its circumference while supported by a hard surface such as to flex the two halves which causes them to 'pop' apart instead of using a screwdriver which may damage the plastic.. Hope this helps and thanks again for the content, regards, Rory

I wish you were a school teacher for people everywhere. Always interesting stuff, always explaining things in a way most people can understand. The world could really use more people like you

Fun fact: I had one of these, and noticed how gritty the procession axis was, I proceeded to put 3 in 1 oil on the outer ring which rendered the toy useless. These little things are really cool.

The only correction to your description is that both ends of the axle contact opposite surfaces when it is twisted, thus, both contribute to increasing spin. The best motion is that of a wobble plate. You keep the axis ahead of the downward movement which causes it to pivot, the pivot causes it to push up maintaining pressure against the downward movement. The combination of the pivot and upward pressure create enough friction to accelerate the axle and the attached rotor. It only reverses pivot direction if you get ahead of the axle.

As a beginning rock climber and recently just coming across these interesting forearm work tools this video was awesome!!! Now I can go to the rock climbing gym and when I see them totally understand what’s going on! Love your content keep it up!

I just bought one from Amazon and I can say that whoever came up with the idea of designing a gyroscope which can be used as an exercise/fidget toy is absolutely ingenious. Big 👍🏻 thumbs up to Physics.

Love these devices. Got my first one back in late 70s. Once you get the feel, you can sense the position of the axis and move accordingly. A bit like surfing a wave.

Hats off to you. I’ve been wondering about this for decades. I’m still convinced there’s a way to extract energy from the earth’s rotation using exactly this method.

wow, I had a gyroscopica exercise ball too when I was a child. I can't believe I'm seeing it again in KZfaq and also found out that it has a way longer history than I thought (from the 70s) 😅

Dude, your videos are always so informative and educational. Your demonstrations along with your explanations make practically everything you teach easy to understand. I hope you never run out of ideas. Thank you for sharing! 😊

I just learned precession in physics about one or two months ago and completely failed but this genuinely makes a lot of sense, especially with how you explain it with so little incomprehensible math

I've been using those since the 70's, they work well. The first one I had was called a Dyna-Bee. You can hold your arm in different positions to work different muscle groups.

That's what happened to my one - thought I would give it a squirt of wd40 to make it go faster and yep you know what happened!! Great video thank you for sharing.

Thanks for finaly confirming my thought about how they work. I always supected that pin in the groove to be driving it, but now I know for sure. Keep up this terrific channel.

I've been using one of these to exercise forearms, glad to finally understand the physics behind it! Thank you for creating this video as always, amazing stuff!!!!

The Chinese inventor who invent this is a genius!

You are seriously one good teacher 👍

I used to play with one of these when I was a little child, but it's so long ago that I had already forgotten.. until I saw it in your video and remembered. Now I want one again!

Kudos to the sponsor!! súper important that more people talk about mental health issues without fear or stigma. Thanks!

BOTH ends are touching the groove at the same time, but on OPPOSITE SIDES. If that were not true, there would be a translational force on the rotor. When you reverse the torque on the ball, the rotor ends reverse sides they contact to. There are 4 possible places of frictional contact (2 shaft ends, 2 sides of the groove they can contact). This is in effect a full-wave rectifier, the 4 possible contact points forming a bridge rectifier, continuing to accelerate the rotor despite reversing the ball rotation. More effective rotor driving occurs if you orbit the ball in a circle (versus simple alternating rotation).

Funnily enough I had one of these and some of my coworkers wasn't able to keep it moving. Regarding the mechanics I suspected a little bit of how it works but this is great to learn all the small details. Great video as always!

Thank you for all of your videos. I really enjoy them. Keep up the good work!

11:16 the little cheeky "hehe'' gets me xD

I remember having that gyro ball back in 2008, they were called powerballs, my friend had a "speed meter" on it, and we (not me) reached over 20k rpm :)

I'm going to need Steve Mould to weigh in on this.

Very well done! Your demonstrations are excellent!

I've been waiting for this for many years! Ever since I was a kid and used that thing to train for Badminton! Thx

I got one of these back in 2018. A string pull one. You can start it with a quick flick of a thumb, too, with practice. Was surprised how much of a workout it is for the forearm. Good physiotherapy for people with grip issues :)

I just bought mine 1 week ago.. 5 fase colors model.. very fun... good content

Seeing a video from this channel on these devices makes me happy. One of my high school classmates brought one of those in back in the late 90's before they were available because his uncle invented them and sent him one to test out. It didn't have the spring start, though. It was a pain to get going.

Another wonderful video. Thank you for sharing.

So creative, so hardworking and smart

I got my first powerball (that's what they were called back then) about 15 years ago and i remember getting sore forearms after excessively playing with it the first few days. I also was interested how they work and noticed friction is a big part of it, because I ruined one, by slightly lubricating the running surface of the axle, and on the topic of skill, well i would slightly disagree. I've seen lots of people fail to get it going, because they were not able to feel the movement, once the rotor reaches a certain speed, you can feel the force and basically push it around in a circle slowly increasing the speed. Just wiggling your hand uncontrollably usually ends up stalling the ball.

i really love just watching this guys explanation on gravity, simple experiments, and he really make some explanation easy.. i really love his channel i still have another one tho but still i love watching it

You explained a hard concept flawlessly. I didn't understand before, but after, I did!

10:23 A small error: The thin metal axis touches at both sides. But one end touches the upper shell and one end touches the other shell. So both ends roll clockwise or counterclockwise together. Nice video! Can you please show us the generator for the LED and the starter mechanism with the spring.

Thanks!

These questions were in my mind, thank you for solving it

As a long time subscriber, you've got the best videos. Cheers for the video and keep on being great

When i had my first summer job at a warehouse, i would get on the pallet jack one leg on each side and start turning the handle left and right, and that side to side movement would turn into forward movement, and i could make it go really fast, the whole thing was so intuitive. Dont try this, but in case you have to stop, turn the handle all the way to either side VERY fast and the front wheel would act as the brake.

I had one of these years ago, I came to the same conclusion and also ruined one of these the same way by lubricating the bearing. For anyone who wants a gyroscope toy, these are really neat, the feeling of fighting a gyroscope is really strange.

dude this was a great explanation. i got one of these gyros years ago and could never figure out why it increased in acceleration. I remember the instructions explicitly stated not to lube any part of the gyro just keep it clean. Thank you for this great video.

I've always wanted to buy one of these and this video has convinced me to finally order one online. Thanks!!

wow it was very clarifying! Thanks from Brazil😁👍🏼

That was fascinating. Had me wondering just how in the world that worked all the way up until almost the end when you explained the friction. I was thinking it was some complex physics to do with it changing directions but being held in one spot or something like that. Now I want to get one. Not really to exercise with but just to play with haha

I was waiting for a complicated, sophisticated of the gyroscope being rotated, just the spindle rubbing against the outer shell blew my mind.

I love this channel. For the science. For the knowledge learned and to watch the evolution of the hair. Best hair on the KZfaq's man.

Gyro Zeppeli approves

I have actually housed an assembly such as you represent but the rotor is a magnet assembly and the outer casing is a coil, really cool stuff.

Crazy informative! I instinctively understood it because mine got dirty, and the friction increased to the point where the ball would not move freely anymore to the point that it became unusable. But now that I know you can open them up, I’m going to buy another one and get back to it! Thanks for the video!

I have the pull string version of this, it’s fun! I got it to at least 8k I think. The noise can get annoying though.

Bro, your dentist deserves some praise!

Very interesting, especially the bit about the lubricating breaking it.

Thanks for the precise explanation

The device has 3 axis of momentum. If you add resistance to the second and power to the third, the first one gains incredible momentum. Fascinating. I wonder if this applies to rotating magnetic fields too..

Now I am extremely curious about where this hand exercise come to play 😲

Always something interesting…THANK YOU!!!

You are a master presenter and a dedicated physics research advocate. Excellent video again!

Great video! Just a little bit of info on the gyro ball, the tiny groove that the axle sits in. As you change the angular momentum by rotating your wrist either clockwise or counter clockwise you can change the direction of the spin. Also, as you rotate your wrist you are causing the axel to run on the top of the groove on one side and the other side of the axle to run on the bottom of the groove. So as you slowly increase wrist rotation the end result is faster gyro rotation! Ps . Where did you get the regular gyro? Again thanks for the great videos!

The way that thing works is way more intuitive than I expected

ive had one of these since 2006.. damn! never expected you to pick it up for a video hahah. amazing

I just tried mine that i haven't used in years. It starts up with a string wound around the gyro. Put a piece of reflective tape and meassured the RPM to 8000 at the fastest i could get it to spin. I'd get a bit worried if i had a ball spinning at 10k rpm in my hand held together by plastic.

Sir big fan wanted to have a teacher like you , imagining a time I would be able to see you offline

This is actually really spiritual. Thanks Action Lab!

I just wanted to say I learned a lot in this video thank you very much

I used to have one of those - it had a string start and could get it going mad fast! Don't know how many rpm though but must be thousands probably 4 or 5

Ever see what happens to a spinning T shape in space? It periodically inverts its orientation while maintaining its rotational velocity.

I had one of those as a kid my dad got it from a good friend i would always use it in a dark room and it would be so cool to see the room light up brighter and brighter seeing how fast i can spin it.

There is a device called the sea keeper, same overall gyroscopic idea but to stabilize the boat. I'm very curious what would happen if someone put a sea keeper gyro in an offroad truck. I think it would eliminate nose diving and make out stable in a sharp turn instead of rolling on two wheels.

So, who else bought this thing?

Love watching these videos

man, i love this guy

He has mastered 「Spin」

In a strange kind of way, you are the reincarnate of Robert Hooke, his doing weekly demonstrations of science for the early Royal Society.

This was a really cool explanation of this. I figured it would be something to do with the precession, but I was pretty much lost otherwise haha.

great vid, the action lab always has something that will expand your view of the world we live in.

😎 i got one of those when they first came out, back in the early 70s, a little primitive compared to this one with the built in starter and the addition of the lights. They originally were called 'DynaBees', 'dynamic' and they sound a little like bees, more a hum really, goes up in pitch with increasing speed. Still have the old one, durable goods. Mine, you have to start by rolling it on a surface or spin it with a thumb. That can be an art in itself, does take a little practice. You don't mention there's a trick to getting it to spin faster, you have to feel for the motion that is being resisted or it dies, takes a little practice. Making circles, have to start with larger circles, slowly making the circles smaller and smaller to get it to go faster. Surprisingly hard work to get it to go really fast, you'll 'feel the burn' pretty quick. Thanks for the explanation of how they work, never wanted to take mine apart, like it too much, 'fraid i'd break it.

now you need to make something to get it going so fast that it explodes LOL I am betting what is more likely to happen though is that long before it can it melts into the plastic rim and locks up

Mind blown, as usual. What an amazing explanation! Thanks! I didn't even know about these gizmos. BTW, you really should have added an affiliate link to buy one of these, you'd make a ton of (well deserved) commissions!

That's a pretty good sponsor, had no idea existed, and really need it!

I have couple of them, the ones called "powerball", with included rpm counter, my record is around 13k rpm. There was a model of powerball that included several magnets on it's rotor, and an attachment meant to generate power to even charge phones!! Really cool gadgets, but just one drop and it's ruined because it gets out of balance, noisy and vibrating machines.

I figured out how this thing worked when I got one as a kid a long time ago. Happy to hear my observations of it were indeed correct.

Love the shirt! Keep up the good work!

Woah I never thought I'd see one of these in a video of urs. I got one years ago to strengthen my wrists. I love it! Mine doesn't have a spring start like that though I like yours more.

Gyro, Spin, The Power. Ah, I see where this is going to. Everything's a JoJo reference 🔥

Most guys here have a good right hand exercise once a day at least.

After learning the principles how its work from this video, I'm able to keep the ball from stop spinning. Nice content 👍🏻

I've never seen these before. Thanks for explaining how they work... 🙂

Jojo reference.

never clicked so fast in my life

4:26 i almost spit out my beer laughing when he said "the past few years have been really tough on everyone" lol.