Skip to content
Parallax Learn

Parallax Learn

  • Welcome
  • Tutorials
        • Tutorial Series head tag

          Tutorial Series
        • Tutorial Series

          The special, classroom-ready series pages are organized collections of tutorials for our most popular hardware and/or languages. The tutorials for each topic are conveniently accessible from a single page, shown in the order it is recommended that they be completed.
        • Robotics Series Head tag

          Robotics Series
        • Robotics Series

          • Artificial Intelligence
          • Cybersecurity: Radio Data tutorialCybersecurity
          • cyber:bot + Python
          • cyber:bot + MakeCode
          • Boe-Bot Tutorial SeriesBoe-Bot
          • Arduino Shield-Bot
          • ActivityBot with C TutorialsActivityBot + C
          • ActivityBot with BlocklyProp Tutorial SeriesActivityBot + BlocklyProp
          • Scribbler 3 Tutorial SeriesScribbler 3
        • Electronics & Programming Series Head tag

          Electronics & Programming Series
          • BS2 Board of Education Tutorial SeriesBS2 Board of Education
          • Propeller C-Language BasicsPropeller C Basics
          • FLiP Try-It Kit C Tutorial SeriesFLiP Try-It Kit + C
          • FLiP Try-It Kit BlocklyProp TutorialsFLiP Try-It Kit + BlocklyProp
          • Badge WX Tutorial SeriesBadge WX
          • Propeller BlocklyProp Basics and ProjectsPropeller BlocklyProp Basics
          • View All Tutorial Series »
        • Browse Tutorials
        • Browse Tutorials

          Individual tutorials sorted by robot or kit, and language.
        • By Robot or Kit
          • ActivityBot
          • SumoBot WX
          • Boe-Bot
          • Shield-Bot
          • cyber:bot
          • Badge WX
          • ELEV-8
          • ARLO
        • By Language
        • By Language

          • Propeller C
          • Arduino
          • BlocklyProp
          • PBASIC
          • Python
          • MakeCode
          • View All Tutorials »
  • Educators
  • Reference
  • Downloads
  • Home
  • All Courses
  • Understanding the Physics of Multirotor Flight

Understanding the Physics of Multirotor Flight

Using Rotation and Angular Momentum to Control Movement

Airplanes are able to turn by using a control surface called a rudder. The rudder is used to push the tail to one side or the other, causing a rotation referred to as yaw. Yawing allows an aircraft to turn similar to how the front wheels of a car are used to make the car steer:

Multirotors are able to yaw by taking advantage of the angular momentum of the spinning motors and propellers. Remember that on a quadcopter, 2 of the motors spin in one direction and two of them spin in the other direction to balance out the angular momentum on a quadcopter. If you intentionally unbalance the angular momentum by speeding the two clockwise spinning motors up and slowing the two counter-clockwise spinning motors down, the body of the quadcopter begins turning counter-clockwise:

It is important to note that when a quadcopter is yawing, only two of the motors are providing most of the lift.  This means that the quadcopter is less stable during a yawing maneuver and more susceptible to interference from wind or disruption from other maneuvers such as roll and pitch that might be happening at the same time.


Printer-friendly version
Rotation, Torque and Angular Momentum
Prev

DISCUSSION FORUMS | PARALLAX INC. STORE

About | Terms of Use | Feedback: learn@parallax.com | Copyright©Parallax Inc. 2024

© 2025 Parallax Learn • Built with GeneratePress