Gyroscope

​Gyroscope
Goodness knows why I thought “It’s Time.”  By that I meant not for any change, but to get a word from the dictionary again.  This time Merril did the random pick.  And it just gets worse. 
But this time I found the word really interesting.  “gyroscope.” Its definition was “rotating wheel whose axis is free to turn but maintains fixed direction in absence of perturbing forces, esp. as used for stabilization or to replace compass in ships etc”
Why I found gyroscopes so interesting is best summed up in howstuffworks “Gyroscopes can be very perplexing objects because they move in peculiar ways and even seem to defy gravity. These special properties make gyroscopes extremely important in everything from your bicycle to the advanced navigation system on the space shuttle. A typical airplane uses about a dozen gyroscopes in everything from its compass to its autopilot. The Russian Mir space station used 11 gyroscopes to keep its orientation to the sun, and the Hubble Space Telescope has a batch of navigational gyros as well. Gyroscopic effects are also central to things like yo-yos and Frisbees!” (https://science.howstuffworks.com/gyroscope.htm)  Add to that smart phones.
It is probably not a problem for many people, but it took me a while to get my head around these things.  What they can do seems to defy logic.  I was awe struck watching video’s of them.  The thing I find most amazing about them is an effect called precession.  A video of a hanging bicycle wheel shows it best for me. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H98BgRzpOM)
But it can only do this if the wheel is spinning.  When it is not spinning, its behaviour is totally as expected.  Its behaviour when it spins though does make sense when it is clear what is happening as the gyroscope turns.
A video I watched said the action of the gyroscope was hard to explain.  Ain’t that the truth.  A history of the thing shows it was known about but came into its own after they found a use for it.  The mars robot used a gyroscope for direction and stability.  Pilots are alerted to their plane not being level by them. 
They are seen as very useful for the future of driverless cars as they will help them maintain stability.  In fact, many pilotless or driverless items use them.
I do not pretend though that any use of an invention is perfect.  Failure is inevitable.  Fortunately, that is the exception rather than the rule.  I will use something proven to work and just hope I am not the unlucky one that experiences the failure.
For many probably the gyroscope may be ho hum, but for me it is a big wow.  They reckon that for people that just use many new inventions, but do not understand how they work, there is a sense of magic.
The gyroscope is like that for me.  I am happy to reap the benefits of the device without even necessarily knowing it was there.  When it improves my experience, that is good enough for me.