10.1.2 Angular momentum

The angular momentum of a rotating body is the product of its moment of inertia and its angular velocity. The angular momentum is chosen to be very high, so that the effects of undesired torques that can act on a rotor and cause errors are small. This results in a gyroscope with little movement of the direction of the spin axis. Any undesired movement of the direction of the spin axis is usually referred to as ‘drift’.