Can someone explain what's going on here?

[rukiddingme]

I don't understand how this works, any help is appreciated.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRPC7a_AcQo

[Xaverius]

Look closely at the wheel, it's not even spinning.

[TinselKoala]

On the contrary, Professor Laithewaite's demonstrations are quite real and the effect he shows can be shown by anyone with a gyro rotor. The problem is with the interpretation of what he shows.

There are much longer clips from his lectures available; they are worth watching, with a grain of salt of course.

What he is doing is called "forced precession". If a gyro rotor is driven in the precessing direction around the axis of precession faster than its natural rate, the rotor will lift up with seemingly very little effort, even to the completely vertical position. To experience this in a lab system on a tabletop... it will make you believe in antigravity. There are other results of forced precession as well, that will blow your minds, guaranteed.

This is a real effect, not fake, just misinterpreted by Laithewaite and his followers, because it is so very counterintuitive.

The presence of the "closed system" video at the home page of the forum is really disappointing... because that IS fake. This is not.

[Cherryman]

I always wonder how it is possible that a lot of people have names that reflect their intrest or proffesion.


In this case: Professor Laithwaite
Filed of interest: Anti-gravity


Now listen to that name as you pronounce it: Professor Light weight

[lumen]

This is another one of those scientific tests that shows absolutely nothing.
The first step is to remove the human control input and see if the result is the same as the perceived result.