ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by considering Newton's laws of motion. It seeks to revise the concepts of speed, velocity, acceleration and momentum, which are fundamental to a proper understanding of these laws. Gyroscopes use two fundamental properties of a gyro-rotor: rigidity and precession. The property of rigidity is important since the whole point of a gyroscope is to act as a reference point in space under particular circumstances, no matter what the attitude of the ship, aircraft or any vehicle, housing the gyroscope. A gyroscopic torque may occur in any machine with rotating parts if a change in the direction of their axis of rotation takes place. This may occur in vehicles such as ships and aircraft that contain rotating machinery such as engines, electrical motors and other heavy rotating parts, as they change course. The engine of a jet aircraft is mounted along the centre line of its fuselage.
