Rotation and Torque - Physics 101 / AP Physics 1 Review with Dianna Cowern

This brings up several things that are way beyond my mathematical knowledge... Let's think about unidirectional force. There are a few pretty compelling but weak examples. The simplest is to take a rotating disk and place another rotating disk near its perimeter. Pulses of torque can be applied to the outer frame by either mounting the second disk asymmetrically (traditional) or by applying torque through timed acceleration and deceleration of the inner frame. I've experimented with this and had some really counterintuitive results. It's hard to describe the setup... If you replace the mass of the inner frame with a gyroscope, it will very preferentially align itself with the rotating frame of reference its attached to. Specifically, if you spin up the gyros and then spin up the outer frame, the gyros are still locked to the outside frame of reference. But, when torque is applied from the rotating frame of reference, the gyro locks to that. I think that if this was properly examined, it could be like Star Trekian impulse drive. Strictly mechanical propulsion without propellant. //endcrazytalk