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Nutation is a rocking, swaying, or nodding motion in the axis of rotation of a largely axially symmetric object, such as a gyroscope or the Earth. It may also refer to:

• In biology:
  • Nutation in plants, bending movements executed by some plant organs
  • Sacrum nutation, see Sacrum #Articulations
• The same as precession in spacecraft dynamics
• In engineering, to nutate means exhibit a wobbling motion without rotation. It is used in flow measurement and pumps. Examples are:
  • swashplate engine
  • nutating disc engine

Other users

This term was used by MIT physicist Peter Fisher on the television show Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 8, 2008. Fisher used the term to describe the motion of a spinning ring as it began to slow down and wobble.

• Disambiguation pages