When a man effortlessly lifts 20 kg weight, holding at the end of a long rod with one hand and manages to wave it over his head, you can’t help but wonder whether it’s a magic trick or just cool physics. Seriously, the wheels looks like it’s floating in the air and of course, it’s all thanks to physics. They haven’t discovered an anti-gravity device to make Back To the Future skateboards, although they tried hard, but one never seems to get enough from good old physics in action.
The demonstration in the video below is done by Veritasium’s Derek Muller and the phenomenon that makes it all look like a magical act is called torque-induced precession; otherwise known as gyroscopic precession. When and where does it occur? Well, this phenomenon occurs in rotating bodies -an applied force is manifested 90 degrees later in the direction from where the force was applied. Gyroscopic precession doesn’t make the weight lighter, it just makes the person that’s lifting it feel like it’s lighter.