🔬#MESExperiments 31: Mechanical Demonstration of Inertia by Francis McCabe

5 months ago (Edited)

In #MESExperiments 31 I have uploaded a video by the late Francis McCabe demonstrating that a group of randomly orientated gyroscopes will automatically align themselves in the direction of an applied torque. McCabe constructed a machine with 4 gyro horizons from World War 2 (WW2) planes fixed to an assembly that is free to rotate manually via a crank. A gyro horizon is an instrument used to measure an aircraft's orientation relative to the Earth's horizon. When McCabe starts the machine, the gyroscopes are spun up with air pressure and start oscillating and/or rotating (which McCabe describes as "motorization"). He notes that their is a self-developed frequency of oscillation and motorization. Then he applies an external torque by rotating the crank and immediately all the gyroscope line up! He notes that the force is felt only initially as the gyros are lining up and then the machines starts "coasting".

McCabe Inertia Gyroscopes.jpeg

This machine demonstrates what may well be the first mechanical rendition of inertia, which is a mass' resistance to change or acceleration. The gyros can be considered as tiny atoms, and the inertia that an object possesses is related to how many atoms need to reorient themselves in the direction of applied motion. Interestingly, this gyro assembly is also a good illustration of magnetism, since an externally applied magnetic field causes many tiny magnets to reorient themselves in the applied magnetic field direction. Are atoms and magnets just tiny gyroscopes? gyroscopes of the Aether? I think so!

Francis McCabe was an inventor and rocket scientist that had stumbled upon the work of the late great Eric Laithwaite regarding gyroscopes. His original video and his now deleted Wikipedia page are listed below: