They spin so fast because of conservation of angular momentum. They start out far away with a lot of angular momentum which they conserve when getting closer by starting to move faster. It's the same as when ice skaters pull their limbs in to start spinning faster and then extend them to slow down.

*dumb eyed look*

There is absolutely nothing conservative about angular momentum. It is science! Now.. if they were to explain that Jesus' magical finger kept it spinning. Then that would be conservative!

Pfbt!

>> ^MycroftHomlz:
next time you eat peanut M&Ms spin one like a top it should flip up so it spinning on its skinny axis... and there you have why I became a physicist. For years that boggled my mind and was a frequent party trick. I didn't solve it until my first year as a graduate student in Classical Mechanics.
Man I miss that professor. Half of me wishes I could get him to tape his lectures. They were so clear. Seriously, it was amazing. He could have taught a monkey quantum field theory. I had him as an undergrad and hated it. He made things so incredibly clear that they were boring.
It wasn't until I learned hard things that appreciated a teacher who explained things 3 different ways and only focused on a couple topics.


SO? Tell us why it works!

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Dude...this shit looks dangerous, I saw some strays come back and almost hit the rider as well as the end where you hear it hit right next to the camera man. Not saying it's not cool, but he should put a barrel that'll allow the rocket to build angular momentum so that it has some spin and some control.

OMG! Finally, a Unified Theory of Feline Angular Momentum. Now we can finally explore the outer reaches of the universe!

I think the point Shole was making is that there's no net momentum transfer after things settle to equilibrium. The rocket is able to change the momentum of the Earth by firing off exhaust gases at high velocity but those will eventually come to a stop due to drag with the atmosphere which will then transfer the momentum back to the Earth again. So it's more like the rocket would have a temporary shift to the Earth's rotation which would then return to its original position. The ice cap would be the same situation so long as it eventually came back to rest. In order to permanently alter the Earth's rotation some angular momentum would have to be permanently transferred to something else.

>> ^mxxcon:
>> ^MarineGunrock:
Or you could, you know, put a second wheel on there and save a shit ton of battery power so you don't have to use energy just to keep it upright.

you are not using battery to keep it from tilting to the sides. the human does that just like riding a bike.
once you get up to certain speed, angular momentum will it stable.


Human and gyroscopic balancing only work on one axis, there smart one.

>> ^MarineGunrock:
Or you could, you know, put a second wheel on there and save a shit ton of battery power so you don't have to use energy just to keep it upright.


you are not using battery to keep it from tilting to the sides. the human does that just like riding a bike.
once you get up to certain speed, angular momentum will it stable.

>> ^rebuilder:
Next up: Stephen Hawking clears up the misunderstanding that the sun revolves around the earth, explaining that it is, in fact, the other way around: The earth revolves around the sun.


Hate to be THAT guy, but as both bodies have mass/angular momentum, they revolve around each other. Of course, with the disparity in mass - the earth must move more to abide by conservation of energy/Newtons 3rd law,
"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. "

>> ^rottenseed:
>> ^cybrbeast:
Conservation of angular momentum?
Once they're up to speed it's not that hard to keep spinning.

Not necessarily conservation of angular momentum, more Newton's law of inertia which can be applied to angular momentum. But the second part is correct.


Same thing, different words; way to be an uber nerd.

>> ^cybrbeast:
Conservation of angular momentum?
Once they're up to speed it's not that hard to keep spinning.

Not necessarily conservation of angular momentum, more Newton's law of inertia which can be applied to angular momentum. But the second part is correct.

Conservation of angular momentum?
Once they're up to speed it's not that hard to keep spinning.

Awesome, (s)he utilizes conservation of angular momentum to increase the angular velocity by pulling the limbs close to its body. With grace, too!

*brief

If you want to be precise it's the moment of inertia, associated with the angular momentum of the wheels which gives rise to the gyro effect. In simpler terms, it's the tendancy for rotating objects to resist changes to their axis of rotation.