I was chatting with someone the other day. I’m sorry to say that I cannot remember who it was because I owe him big time. We were exchanging links to interesting STEM websites (as you do) when he asked if I’d seen any of the videos on the SmarterEveryDay Youtube Channel.

I was ashamed to admit my total lack of knowledge regarding this channel. I was even more chagrined to discover that it’s hosted by American engineer Destin Wilson Sandlin, who is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA, which is where your humble narrator currently hangs his hat (I pride myself on my humility).

O-M-Goodness gracious me. Destin has made hundreds of videos documenting the experiments he performs on his quest to understand things. I started watching just one, Why Do Spinning Things Do This?, only to find that I’m well and truly hooked.

Although this 20-minute video about gyroscopic precession was posted only two weeks ago as I write these words, it’s already received over a million views (some of Destin’s videos have 80+ million views).

NOTE: The auto-transcription associated with this video incorrectly transcribes “gyroscopic precession” as “gyroscopic procession,” which would be a completely different kettle of (rapidly rotating) fish, as it were.

As Destin says in this video, most of the things you read and see about gyroscopic precession explain WHAT happens, not WHY it happens. He’s right. I thought I understood this concept until I watched this video. Now my head hurts.

The scary thing is that there are literally hundreds of similar videos on Destin’s channel, so you may not see me again until next spring. In the meantime, it would be great if you could post a comment on this blog describing which of Destin’s videos is your favorite, and why.