How to Use a Magnetic Gyro Wheel Toy to Show Physics
Jean Bernard Leon Foucault invented the first gyroscope. From that invention came a magnetic gyro wheel toy sold in toy stores. These toys are also called rail twirlers often sold under the brand name "Whee-Lo." These toys combine the ever-spinning property of a gyroscope with the magnetic force applied by magnets. The magnetic gyro wheel toy is a great teaching aid as well as being fun to use. It can demonstrate physics lessons about centripetal force, magnetic force, friction and gravity.
Instructions
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1
Place the fly wheel on the rails and tilt the rails forward and down to spin the wheel.
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2
Turn your wrist as the wheel is spinning. Notice how easy it is to turn your wrist.
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3
Tilt the rails forward and down and up repeatedly to make the wheel go faster.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep the rails completely still and wait for the wheel to fly off the track. The reason the wheel stays on the track to begin with is because there are magnets on the wheel's axis. Eventually as the wheel slows down, centripetal force overpowers the force of the magnets that were keeping the wheel on the rails, therefore causing the wheel to continue in its direction of travel and fly off the rails.
It's interesting to note that centripetal force would still overtake magnetic force in zero gravity. The absence of gravity would allow the wheel to keep spinning for longer but eventually friction would slow it down. That's when centripetal force would take over and allow the wheel to fly off the rails.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit wheel image by Tomasz Plawski from Fotolia.com
