I'm not a physics student, but am attempting to better understand gyroscope physics. Also my first post here. So, I'm looking at this site, at the second diagram with F_1 and F_2, and reading the text above it, to paraphrase: F_1 and F_2 act in opposite directions, therefore a clockwise torque M, which is generated by gravity, is needed to sustain these forces. I'm not following this statement about what M is and why it is needed, and its depiction in the diagram is a bit confounding to me. Can anyone explain this to me?
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I agree that the explanation is very confusing and hard to follow. It seems that it was written to give an intuitive picture of what happens, and at this it failed as far as I am concerned. – Stéphane Rollandin May 05 '18 at 13:28
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See this discussion of gyroscopic precession (contributed to stackexchange by me, in 2012). It's a shortened version of a discussion that is available on my own website. – Cleonis May 11 '18 at 12:46
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For sure, what is presented on that real-world-physics-problems website as an explanation is actually not an explanation. It is as if someone writes: 'Mercury is liquid at room temperature because at room temperature it has the ability to resist solidifying'. It kind of mimics an explanation, but it just isn't. – Cleonis May 11 '18 at 12:55
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The forces F1 and F2 do not act on the center of mass of the spinning top. Therefore they exert a torque on the object. See for a definition of torque https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque.
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