Spinning a Tippe top is fun and magical as well, initially it seems usual spinning top. But suddenly the magic happens. The top get reversed and start spinning all the way up side down.
Is not this magical? See a small video below. This strange behavior of top is strange for even Nobel Laureate, Niels Bohr.
This magical Tippe Top was initially designed somewhere in the mid of -18th centuries. But its commercial development happened in 1950. Tippe Top was one of the most popular toy of that time. It drew the attention of many physicists, they tried to found exact working principle.
What do you think, how does it happen?
Flipping of Tippe Top happens because of the raise of its center of mass. Tippe Top translate some part of its rotational momentum. It does so because its center of mass is actually lower than its geometrical center of mass. When this Top spins, its rotational axis is offset from its point of contact with the ground, which causes the top to trace out a circle on the table.
The friction with the ground applies a torque that causes the top to flip over, changing its angular momentum. When it becomes horizontal, the top actually reverses its direction of spin! and the magic happens! Once the stem hits the table, the torque causes the top to flip over! Observe it now, it is spinning slower than it was before, and that energy lost gone into gravitational potential energy!
With this, I would say #science is #fun. Physicsfun.
Happy MathVisually!