Gravity Powered Generator With Gyroscope 'Sails'

[cabbie]

Hi guys,

I tried a version of this idea after watching this physics lecture by Walter Lewin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPUuF_dECVI). Near the end he demonstrates a gyro suspended in 3-axled gimbled arrangement as you might find in an old style aviation gyro. By placing a weight on the end of the gyro's axis, he demonstrated the resulting precession of the outer frame. As he puts it, "The spin angular momentum is chasing the torque." So it seemed to me the precession torque could be tapped from a drive shaft connected to the lower bar of that outer frame.

There is indeed a precessional torque to be gained by placing the weight on that axis when the gyro is spinning. However, apart from the argument that the axis is actually "dipping" slightly and if prevented from doing so the precession stops; there is a more serious problem which prevents power from being tapped from this process. That can be seen the moment you physically resist the movement of that outer frame, which is exactly what hooking it up to a generator under load would do ... The gyro immediately responds by flipping downward. That is, it reacts as if more weight has suddenly been added to the end of the axis. There is an equal but opposite reaction occurring, and again it almost needs to be seen to be believed since despite it making perfect sense to "nature", it appears non-intuitive. Unfortunately, it rendered my hope of a gravitational gyro drive mechanism unworkable.

Had Professor Lewin gone one step further in his demonstration to show this effect it would have save me the trouble, and it would have added one more sense of wonder for his students.