3 ms·
Couldn't the gyros just be oriented so the axis align with earths rotation? At the equator thats easy, just mount it vertically. In the contiguous US I'd guess
by elcritch 4y ago
Couldn't the gyros just be oriented so the axis align with earths rotation? At the equator thats easy, just mount it vertically. In the contiguous US I'd guess a what 50deg angle?
It'd be fun in a scifi movie to see large disc shaped buildings sticking half way out at an angle all over.
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoI believe you'd actually need the axis of rotation to be the same. So a horizontal flywheel, mounted on either pole.
- elcritch 4y agoAt the equator a gyroscope on its side would have the same orientation for its axis of rotation as the earths. Think of holding a gyroscope on a merry go round.
- dredmorbius 4y agoThat would require a free-floating (gimbal) mount, so far as I understand. Most grid-support gyros are in fact cylindrical rather than disk-shaped, as this optimises for mass at the outer radius of rotation. To gimbal-mount a large cylinder you'd have to have a proportionately large spherical enclosure. I'm only somewhat generally and vaguely aware of the issues here and I don't know what R&D or theory are specifically ongoing here. As noted, polar and equatorial locations would require the least adjustment, as polar flywheels could be aligned perpendicular to the ground, equatorial ones parallel (along the north-south axis), which would minimise any movements, as others have noted. (I don't think that Earth's axial inclination would matter, and am presuming that precession of Earth's own axis is Too Small to Matter.)