Gyroscope
Azerbaijan became the newest country to have logged on to my blog. I welcome these two readers as they are my 68th country.
What is a gyroscope? It is a kind of machinery or mechanical device like a wheel mounted in a set of rings such that the axis of rotation is free to turn in any direction. It is used for aircraft to for direction and to keep it level in flight. It is also used in bicycle, the navigation system of ships and space craft and the effect can be seen in things like a yo-yo and the effect is that when you spin it, it keeps pointing to the same direction.
It is a device for maintaining and measuring orientation. You will be surprised that they use gyroscopes in your Nintendo's Wii or your iPhone 4. Ships have a kind of gyroscope to use for stabilising roll motion when the ship is in the ocean. Roll reduction was needed for ships because the roll of the ship in an ocean makes people seasick. It causes cargo to shift and suffer damage. The old gyroscope was expensive, heavy and occupy much space so the Japanese created an underwater fin and made it obsolete.
Why is the gyroscope important? It helps to navigate, measures orientation and provides direction. It also reduces roll and gives stability. Very often, all of us needs just these qualities in life and that is what and how ships and planes cope when navigating the wide expanse of the oceans and the skies.
They are indeed very perplexing objects as they seem to defy gravity and move in certain ways. It is precisely these proerties that made them very important for something as simple as your bicycle to something as sophisticated as the space shuttle. Usually an airplane alone use up to a dozen or more gyroscopes like the compass to the autopilot. The Hubble Space Telescope uses navigational gyros and so do the Russian Space Station.
Newton's law of motion stated that the body in motion continues to move at a constant speed along a straight line until it is acted upon by an unbalanced force. It is just obeying the law of physics which I know but not much about.
So why am I telling you about gyroscopes? Because we need our very own gyroscopes for direction, to keep level, to maintain and measure our own orientation, to stabilise roll motion so that it keeps pointing us to the same direction and to stay on course. That will give us a semblance who and where we are which means stability and humility.
My friends, watch your load limits and Plimsoll lines and use your gyroscope well to stay in place and in truth. Be like a gyroscope - you can stand on your own, be spun around, walk on tight ropes and you can give stability and direction.
Let me introduce you to the music of Spyro Gyra: Always cool and stylish.
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