DISCOVER THE DEVICES Magazine - Kannan Narayanan

In this issue

**DISCOVER THE DEVICES — Volume 1: GYROSCOPE**
By Kannan Narayanan

Gyroscopes are hidden everywhere—in aircraft, ships, satellites, smartphones, game controllers, VR headsets, and even inside the human inner ear. Yet we rarely stop to ask how a spinning wheel can balance itself, resist tilt, and “remember” its direction. This book explains that remarkable behavior with clarity and simplicity.

This is the first volume in the *DISCOVER THE DEVICES* mini-series, designed to introduce important scientific instruments through intuitive ideas and real experiments. Drawing on thirty years of teaching physics, the author guides the reader from everyday spinning tops to the principles of **angular momentum**, **torque**, and **precession**—without heavy mathematics. The writing is friendly and the ideas unfold step-by-step.

The reader learns not only *why* spinning things stay upright, but also how the same principles guide modern technology. Three hands-on **DIY projects** make the concepts tangible:

• A smartphone balancing setup showing how drones stay stable
• The classic swivel-chair and bicycle wheel angular momentum demonstration
• A simple motor-driven gyroscope model that resists twisting

These require only basic materials and can be done at home or in a classroom.

The book then shows how gyroscopes make real-world devices work:

• **Gyrocompasses** that find True North without magnets
• **Aircraft attitude indicators** that reveal the true horizon
• **Reaction wheels** that rotate satellites in space without fuel
• **MEMS gyroscopes** inside phones and controllers
• **Optical gyroscopes** that use light instead of spinning mass

A concise appendix provides the essential equations in a clean, accessible form.

If you want to understand how spinning tops stand, how airplanes remain stable, how satellites point in space, or how your phone senses orientation, this book provides a clear and practical introduction.

A mini book with **mega ideas**.