Originally Posted by
DrJim
I think the word you're looking for is precession. Explanations of this are very difficult but my impression is that the one given above misses the mark a bit. Essentially, at least for the pedals, the bending effect in association with the rotation actually causes the pedal to unscrew in the direction opposite to what would logically be caused by the turning alone.
I might add that if you want to demonstrate this precession, insert a stick like a dowel or a round pencil in a hole slightly larger than its diameter, grab the end of the stick and rotate it in a circle. Notice what direction the stick tends to rotate.