Back in the 50’s, one of the staple toys in a kid’s arsenal was a gyroscope. The little round balls of metal wire could do amazing things. None of us knew how they worked, but if you pulled a string and sent the toy spinning round and round, it would dance on the floor for long periods. You could even position it on top of a pencil, and it wouldn’t fall off. There were numerous tricks you could perform, and it was quite an educational and gravity defying toy.
In physics terms, a gyroscope is a mechanical or electronic device that utilizes the principle of angular momentum to maintain its orientation relative to the Earth’s axis or resist changes in its orientation. The earth itself is something of a gyroscope, by spinning at a high velocity, it is able to maintains its position in space.
To get the toy gyroscope going, you had to wrap a string around the post connected to a disk that could freely spin in the center of the toy. When you pulled the string, that disk would spin rapidly and it was that spinning disk that allowed the toy gyroscope to stand and perform. I suppose they still make toy gyroscopes, but I doubt it is in the top 10 on Christmas wish lists.
For kids of the 50’s, however, they were fun and fascinating.