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The special and general theories of relativity give three types of corrections to the Newtonian precession, of a gyroscope near a large mass such as Earth, described above. They are: They are: Thomas precession , a special-relativistic correction accounting for an object (such as a gyroscope) being accelerated along a curved path.
A gyroscope is an essential component of a gyrocompass, but they are different devices; a gyrocompass is built to use the effect of gyroscopic precession, which is a distinctive aspect of the general gyroscopic effect.
Precession of a gyroscope. In a similar way to how the force from the table generates this phenomenon of precession in the spinning gyro, the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's equatorial bulge generates a very slow precession of the Earth's axis (see §Cause). This off-center push or pull causes a torque, and a torque on a ...
At this rate a Foucault pendulum would have to oscillate for more than 16000 years to precess 1 degree. Despite being quite small, it is still two orders of magnitude larger than Thomas precession for such a pendulum. The above does not include the de Sitter precession; it would need to be added to get the total relativistic precessions on Earth.
In a rate integrating gyroscope, the gyroscope is turned at a steady rate about its input axis and a torque is applied to the spin axis. This causes the gyroscope to precess about the output axis. The rate indicating gyroscope consists of a damping fluid between the float assembly can and the outer casing.
Gyroscopes can be used to construct gyrocompasses, which complement or replace magnetic compasses (in ships, aircraft and spacecraft, vehicles in general), to assist in stability (bicycles, motorcycles, and ships) or be used as part of an inertial guidance system. MEMS gyroscopes are popular in some consumer electronics, such as smartphones.
Two gyroscopes are used to cancel gyroscopic precession, the tendency of a gyroscope to twist at right angles to an input torque. By mounting a pair of gyroscopes (of the same rotational inertia and spinning at the same speed in opposite directions) at right angles the precessions are cancelled and the platform will resist twisting.
Many physical systems precess in a similar manner to a Foucault pendulum. As early as 1836, the Scottish mathematician Edward Sang contrived and explained the precession of a spinning top. [ 14 ] In 1851, Charles Wheatstone [ 15 ] described an apparatus that consists of a vibrating spring that is mounted on top of a disk so that it makes a ...