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Earth as a Gyroscope

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What is a Gyroscope?

  • Brainstorm

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A Toy Gyroscope

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A Bicycle Wheel Gyroscope

Bikes use gyroscopic stability to stay upright

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A Segway-like Device

Uses gyroscopic stability

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A Drone

Uses gyroscopic stability

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This Thing

Fun! Let’s build one!

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Airplanes Use Gyroscopic Navigation

So do spaceships, satellites, space probes

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Electronic Gyroscopes

Your smartphone likely has a gyroscope

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Earth

The Earth spins and is like a gyroscope.

Or it is a gyroscope?

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Precession of the Equinoxes

  • The ancients noticed that the equinoxes, the dates when there are equal amounts of daylight and night, and when the sun rises and sets due east-west, change over time.
  • The equinoxes precess.
  • This is true!

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Precession of the Earth’s Axis of Rotation

Causes Precession of the Equinoxes

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The Location of the North Celestial Pole

Is precessing, tracing out a circle in the sky with a period of 26,000 years

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The Earth’s Orbit is Changing

  • The 23.5 degree tilt is changing
  • The North Celestial Pole is precessing
  • The eccentricity of the elliptical orbit is changing

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Changes in the Earth’s Orbit

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What Does This All Mean?

  • Brainstorm

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End