Introduction to Gyroscopes and Precession Everybody knows what a gyroscope is. Oh, you don’t? Well, it’s quite simple—it’s just a spinning wheel. 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 right side down, the gyro will essentially try to move the left side forward and the right side backward. Same thing if we try to move the left side of the axle forward and the right side backward—then the left side will move upward and the right side will move downward. If you haven’t noticed by now, the gyro is actually t...