Gyroscopes can be very perplexing objects because they move in peculiar ways and even seem to defy gravity. These special properties make gyroscopes extremely important in everything from your bicycle to the advanced navigation system on the space shuttle.

Do gyroscopes work without gravity?

A gyroscope rotor does not possess the property of weight in zero gravity, but the rotor still possesses the property of mass and the associated properties of inertia, and, (when in circular motion), angular velocity and momentum so the gyroscopic principles of conservation of angular momentum fully apply and so the ...

Why do gyroscopes defy gravity?

The main reason they seem to defy gravity is the effective torque applied to the spinning disc has on its angular momentum vector. The influence of gravity on the plane of the spinning disc causes the rotational axis to "deflect".