When I was a kid there was a brief craze for gyroscopes and spinning tops. There were some tops that had a plastic outer case with a heavy flywheel inside. There was a conical nylon wheel on the bottom and you powered them up by swiping them across a hard floor or table top. They were brilliant fun and I'd forgotten all about them 'till just now.
I think they were called "Wizzzers" Always had one slow kid in the group that you could wind up the Wizzzer and tell the kid to listen to it and have their hair get wound up in it.
When I was a kid there was a brief craze for gyroscopes and spinning tops. There were some tops that had a plastic outer case with a heavy flywheel inside. There was a conical nylon wheel on the bottom and you powered them up by swiping them across a hard floor or table top. They were brilliant fun and I'd forgotten all about them 'till just now.
ReplyDeleteI think they were called "Wizzzers"
DeleteAlways had one slow kid in the group that you could wind up the Wizzzer and tell the kid to listen to it and have their hair get wound up in it.
Large gyroscopes are used to stabilize ships
ReplyDeleteThe recognition of the principle of Rigidity in Space by the Sperry Gyroscope Company is the basis that made Instrument Flight possible.
ReplyDeleteI had one of those as a kid. Yes I was easily entertained inside, it was when I went outside that things happened.
ReplyDeleteWow science!!
ReplyDeleteHe didn't let the string tangling in it bother him a bit.
ReplyDeletemy niece had an astronaut come to her school..probably about the 5th grade. when it came time for questions, she asked this one..
ReplyDelete"if you burp and fart at the same time in zero G, do you spin?"
the astronaut couldn't stop laughing..that was the end of questions for the day...
That was cool, Ken, thanks for posting it!
ReplyDelete