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How to Calculate the Gyroscopic Effect

A gyroscope is a device that uses three axes to measure force and angle orientation. Gyroscopes have been used to test the stabilization of remote-controlled helicopters, user stability with handheld devices, unmanned aerial objects, the Hubble Space Telescope and ships. To calculate the gyroscopic effect, you must have the mass and radius of the gyroscope and use the moment of inertia equation.

Things You'll Need

Mass of gyroscope
Radius of gyroscope
Stopwatch

Instructions

- 1
  Insert the mass and radius of the gyroscope into the moment of inertia equation where "M" stands for the mass and "R" stands for the radius. The equation should look as follows: (2/5)M*R^2.
- 2
  Calculate the equation for the moment of inertia, replacing "M" and "R" with the mass and radius of the gyroscope.
- 3
  Measure the number of rotations the gyroscope your gyroscope makes per second using your stopwatch. This determines the angular velocity.
- 4
  Multiply the angular velocity you calculated in Step 3 with the moment of inertia you got in Step 2 to calculate the angular momentum and get the gyroscopic effect.

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