Introduction to Gyroscopes and Precession You might have seen gyroscopes in YouTube videos or elsewhere, but you may not completely understand what they are or how they work. You might have a general idea, but it’s not that intuitive. But don’t worry—I will explain the basics in a way that you can easily understand. In extremely simple terms, it’s essentially just a spinning wheel. And if you tilt the axis a little bit, it will move in a way that feels quite odd. Most people, physicists included, already know what gyros do, but when certain forces are applied in certain ways, you can make them do some pretty unexpected things… well, almost anything. For those who do not understand how gyros work, I will try to break it down the best way I know how. For those who are “in the know,” you can skip this part. Let’s say we have a simple wheel with an axle going through it from left to right, and we are holding each side in front of us. Now, if we try to lift the left side up and push the ri...