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{{Short description|Spinning toy}}
{{otheruses}}
{{other uses}}
]
]
A '''top''', or '''boob''' (haha boobs), is a ] that can be spun on an axis, balancing on a point. The top is one of the oldest recognizable toys found on ] sites. Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for ] and ]. Some ]rs still use tops to augment ] in generating randomized results, it is in this case referred to as a ]. A ] may also be made to spin on the same principles.


A '''spinning top''', or simply a '''top''', is a ] with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be ] on its vertical ], balancing on the tip due to the ].
The action of a top relies on the ] effect for its operation. Typically the top will at first wobble until the shape of the tip and its interaction with the surface force it upright. After spinning upright for an extended period, the ], and therefore the gyroscopic effect, will gradually lessen, leading to ever increasing ], finally causing the top to topple in a frequently violent last thrash.


Once set in motion, a top will usually ] for a few seconds, spin upright for a while, then start to wobble again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy, and finally tip over and roll on its side.
In recent years there have been many developments with the technology of the top. Bearing tops, with a tip that spins, have been one of the biggest changes. Fixed tip tops and bearing tops are featured in National Championships in Chico, California and in the World Championships in Orlando, Florida. Below are results from the most recent World Championship:


Tops exist in many variations and materials, chiefly ], ], and ], often with a metal tip. They may be set in motion by twirling a handle with the fingers, by pulling a ] coiled around the body, or through a built-in auger (spiral plunger).
2007 World Championship Final Results -
1)Matt Ritter from Tallahassee, Florida;
2)Takeshi Kamisato from Indianapolis, Indiana;
3)Jorge Alcoz from Montevideo, Uruguay and San Antonio, Texas;
4)David Buhrmester from Kansas City, Missouri;
5)Mike Hout from Miamisburg, Ohio;
6)Boyd Seth from Portland, Oregon;
7)Hamilton Yokota from Brazil;


Such toys have been used since ] in solitary or competitive ]s, where each player tries to keep one's top spinning for as long as possible or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions, and are used like ] to inject ] into games or for ] and ] purposes.
2007 National Championship Final Results -
1)Jon Gates from Denver, Colorado;
2)Takeshi Kamisato from Indianapolis, Indiana;
3)Boyd Seth from Portland, Oregon


The ubiquity of spinning tops lends to the fact that the toy is used to name many living things such as '']'', whose name comes from the Latin roots for spinning top.
== Types of tops==

*]
==History==
*] (also spelled "dradel", "dreidl", or "dreydl")
]
*]
===Origins===
**]
Spinning tops emerged independently in various cultures worldwide and are considered among the oldest known toys discovered by archaeologists. They have been unearthed on every continent except Antarctica. For instance, tops dating back to around 1250 BCE were found in China, while a carved wooden top from approximately 2000 BCE was discovered in ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromwell |first=Sara |date=2022-06-24 |title=Summer Fun: Make a Spinning Top |url=https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/2022/06/summer-fun-make-a-spinning-top/ |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology |language=en}}</ref><ref name=g>{{cite book | author = Gould, D. W. | title = The Top | publisher = Clarkson Potter | location = NY |year = 1973 | isbn = 0-517-50416-2|pages=20–24}}</ref> Tops were used as ].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tames |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1QJyh6g6YIC |title=Ancient Roman Children |last2=Williams |first2=Brian |date=2003 |publisher=Capstone Classroom |isbn=978-1-4034-0518-0 |page=24 }}</ref>
**]

*]
Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for ] and ]. Some ]s use tops to augment ] in generating randomized results; it is in this case referred to as a spinner.
*]

*]
Gould mentions ] ], ] (leading to ]s), the ], the ], and the ] as possible predecessors to the top, which he assumes was invented or discovered multiple times in multiple places.<ref name=g/>
*]

*]
===Color demonstrations with tops===
*]
A top may be used to demonstrate visual properties, such as by ] and ] in Maxwell's disc (see ]). By rapidly spinning the top, Forbes created the illusion of a single color that was a mixture of the primaries:<ref>{{cite book|title=The Natural Philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell|author=Harman, Peter Michael |publisher=]|isbn=0-521-00585-X|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qf6jtc4nZisC&q=forbes+maxwell+color+top&pg=PA41}}</ref>{{quote| experiments of Professor J. D. Forbes, which I witnessed in 1849… that blue and yellow do not make green, but a pinkish tint, when neither prevails in the combination… result of mixing yellow and blue was, I believe, not previously known.|James Clerk Maxwell|Experiments on colour, as perceived by the eye, with remarks on colour-blindness (1855), ]}}
*]

*]
{{multiple image
*]
| width = 110
*]
| direction = vertical
*]
| image1 = Color top 1895.png
===Perinola (or Pirinola)===
| image2 = PSM V11 D687 The color top.jpg
A Perinola is a six-sided top, very similar to the ham-sandwich, that is used for a similar game in Latin America.
| footer = Maxwell's color top (1895) and one from '']'' (1877)
}}

Maxwell took this a step further by using a circular scale around the rim with which to measure the ratios of the primaries, choosing ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell|author=Maxwell, James Clerk |publisher=]|isbn=0-486-49560-4|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=duyKrTNps_AC&q=maxwell+vermilion+emerald+ultramarine&pg=PA127}}</ref>

==Spinning methods==
===Finger twirling===
Smaller tops have a short stem, and are set in motion by twirling it using the fingers. A ] may also be made to spin on its tip in the same way.

===Strings and whips===
]'' (1560)]]
A typical fist-sized model, traditionally made of wood with a blunt iron tip, is meant to be set in motion by briskly pulling a ] or ] tightly coiled around the body. The rope is best wound starting near the tip and progressing up along the widening body, so that the tension of the string will remain roughly constant while the top's angular speed increases.

These tops may be thrown forward while firmly grasping the end of the string and pulling it back. The forward ] of the top contributes to the string's tension and thus to the final spin rate.

In some throwing styles, the top is thrown upside-down, but the first loop of the rope is wound around a stubby "head". Then, the sudden yank on the head as the string finishes unwinding causes the spinning top to flip over and land on its tip.

Alternatively, tops of this class may be started by hand but then accelerated and kept in motion by striking them repeatedly with a small ].

===Augers===
Some larger models are set in motion by means of a built-in metal auger (spiral plunger). In these models, the actual top may be enclosed in a hollow metal shell, with the same axis but decoupled from it; so that the toy may appear to be stationary but "magically" balanced on its tip.

===Magnetic fields===
Some modern tops are kept perpetually in motion by spinning ]s from a special ground plate.

== Notable types ==

{{multiple image
| width =
| direction = vertical
| align = right
| image1 = Perinola plastico.jpg
| caption1 = A cheap plastic version of the perinola
| image2 = Celt with weights of gemstone turtles-01.jpg
| caption2 = Carved wooden ]
}}

Gould classifies tops into six main types: twirler, supported top, peg-top, whip-top, ], and ].<ref>{{cite book | author = Gould, D. W. | title = The Top | publisher = Clarkson Potter | location = NY |year = 1973 | isbn = 0-517-50416-2|page=32}}</ref>

* Competing tops
** ]
** ], in ]
** ]
** ], in ]
** ]
** ], among ]
* Gaming and other tops
**], traditionally played during the ] of ].
** ], a throwing top used in ] and ].
**]
**], a six-sided top, very similar to the dreidel, that is used for a similar game in Latin America.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Q0oAAAAMAAJ&q=perinola+top|author=National Recreation Association|page=92|title=Recreation|year=1965|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113192555/http://books.google.com/books?id=4Q0oAAAAMAAJ&q=perinola+top&dq=perinola+top&pgis=1|archive-date=2013-11-13}}</ref>
**], or celt, a top that reverses its spin direction
**]
**]
**], or "Whipping top"
**]
]
Modern tops have several sophisticated improvements, such as ball bearings of ] or a hard ] like ], that reduces the friction with the ground surface. Functional art tops have become collectibles built using varied techniques in metal-working, glass-working, and wood-working.

==Physics==
] gyroscope]]
The motion of a top is described by equations of ], specifically the theory of ].

Because of the small contact area between the tip and the underlying surface, and the large ] of its body, a top that is started on a hard surface will usually keep spinning for tens of seconds or more, even without additional energy input.

Typically the top will at first wobble until ] and ] between the tip and the underlying surface force it to spin with the axis steady and upright. Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, longstanding scientific studies (and easy experimentations reproducible by anyone) show that reducing the friction increases the time needed to reach this stable state (unless the top is so unbalanced that it falls over before reaching it).<ref name="Crabtree">{{cite book | author = Crabtree, H. | title = An Elementary Treatment of the Theory of Spinning Tops and Gyroscopic Motion | url = https://archive.org/details/elementarytreatm00seri | publisher = Longman, Green and C | location = London |year = 1909| isbn = 9781418179892 }}</ref> After spinning upright (in the so-called "sleep" position) for an extended period, the ] will gradually lessen (mainly due to friction), leading to ever increasing ], finally causing the top to topple and roll some distance on its side. In the "sleep" period, and only in it, provided it is ever reached, less friction means longer "sleep" time (whence the common error that less friction implies longer global spinning time).

The total spinning time of a top is generally increased by increasing its ] and lowering its ].<ref name="Crabtree"/> These variables however are constrained by the need to prevent the body from touching the ground.

Asymmetric tops of virtually any shape can also be created and designed to balance.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bächer|first1=Moritz|last2=Whiting|first2=Emily|last3=Bickel|first3=Bernd|author4-link=Olga Sorkine-Hornung|last4=Sorkine-Hornung|first4=Olga|title=Spin-It: Optimizing Moment of Inertia for Spinnable Objects|journal=ACM Conference on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) 2014|date=August 10–14, 2014|url=http://www.disneyresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/Project_SpinIt_SIGGRAPH14_paper.pdf|access-date=15 August 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810090719/http://www.disneyresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/Project_SpinIt_SIGGRAPH14_paper.pdf|archive-date=10 August 2014}}</ref>

An exhaustive description of the mathematics and physics of the top can be found in the four volume monograph of Felix Klein et al.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klein |first=F. |title=The Theory of the Top |last2=Sommerfeld |first2=A. |date=2014 |publisher=Birkhäuser Basel |year=2014 |isbn=9780817648268}}</ref>

==Competitions==

There are many official competitions for top spinning as a sport, such as the U. S. National Championships and the World Championships. During the ] contests would be often held online, with contestants submitting videos.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spintops.org/|title=ITSA – International Top Spinners Association|accessdate=23 April 2023}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
The ] story "Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah" revolves around top-spinning in the fictional Depression-era American city of Hohman, Indiana. The bully and the named top in the title are challenged by Shepherd's ongoing protagonist Ralph and a so-called "gypsy top" of similar design to Mariah named Wolf.<ref>Shepherd, Jean (1976). "Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah" in ''Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters''. New York: Doubleday Dolphin Books. {{ISBN|0-385-11632-2}}</ref>

] is a short story by ] writer ].<ref>Kafka, Franz. '']''. ]: ], 1995.</ref>

Rock band ] released ] album in 1984, named, and at least partially inspired, by the toy of the same name. The album includes the title track in which the sound of a spinning top can be heard at the beginning of the song.

The top is a focal element and metaphysical symbol in the movie '']'' (2010), directed by ] and starring ]. In the final shot, the camera moves over the spinning top just before it appears to be wobbling.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inception Ending Explained: Why It Doesn't Matter If The Spinning Top Falls |date=13 January 2022 |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/733503/inception-ending-explained-why-it-doesnt-matter-if-the-spinning-top-falls/ |publisher=]}}</ref>

In 2022, an ] spinning top, with the song "Spin the Magic", was chosen as the theme art and the main motif for the 20th edition of ], which will be held in ], ].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-26 |title='Spin The Magic' revealed as Junior Eurovision 2022 theme |url=https://junioreurovision.tv/story/junior-eurovision-2022-theme |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=junioreurovision.tv |language=en}}</ref>


== See also == == See also ==
*] * ]
* ]
*] or celt, a top that reverses its spin direction.
*] * ]
*] * ]
* ]
*]
* ]
*] - Short story by Franz Kafka
* ]
*]
* ] are spun as tops upon one of their points or used to play ].
*]
* ]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}


== External links== == Further reading ==
{{Commons|Spinning top}} {{Commons}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Top}}
* chabad.org
* Greenler, Robert. "Chasing the Rainbow - Recurrences in the life of a scientist". Elton-Wolf Publishing, 2000. The top spinners from Kota Baru, Malaysia.
*
* Perry J. "Spinning Tops". London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1870. Reprinted by Project Gutemberg ebook, 2010.
*
* A forum discussing all things related to the art of Top Spinning:
*
* {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Top|short=x}}
*


{{Object manipulation}}
]


{{Authority control}}
]
]
]
]
]
] ]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
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Latest revision as of 10:13, 22 December 2024

Spinning toy For other uses, see Spinning top (disambiguation).
An assortment of spinning tops

A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.

Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for a few seconds, spin upright for a while, then start to wobble again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy, and finally tip over and roll on its side.

Tops exist in many variations and materials, chiefly wood, metal, and plastic, often with a metal tip. They may be set in motion by twirling a handle with the fingers, by pulling a rope coiled around the body, or through a built-in auger (spiral plunger).

Such toys have been used since antiquity in solitary or competitive games, where each player tries to keep one's top spinning for as long as possible or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions, and are used like dice to inject randomness into games or for divination and ritual purposes.

The ubiquity of spinning tops lends to the fact that the toy is used to name many living things such as Cyclosa turbinata, whose name comes from the Latin roots for spinning top.

History

Ancient Roman wooden spinning top, from Tebtynis (Egypt), dating from the 1st–3rd century CE

Origins

Spinning tops emerged independently in various cultures worldwide and are considered among the oldest known toys discovered by archaeologists. They have been unearthed on every continent except Antarctica. For instance, tops dating back to around 1250 BCE were found in China, while a carved wooden top from approximately 2000 BCE was discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb. Tops were used as toys in ancient Rome.

Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for gambling and prophecy. Some role-playing games use tops to augment dice in generating randomized results; it is in this case referred to as a spinner.

Gould mentions maple seeds, celts (leading to rattlebacks), the fire-drill, the spindle whorl, and the potter's wheel as possible predecessors to the top, which he assumes was invented or discovered multiple times in multiple places.

Color demonstrations with tops

A top may be used to demonstrate visual properties, such as by James David Forbes and James Clerk Maxwell in Maxwell's disc (see color triangle). By rapidly spinning the top, Forbes created the illusion of a single color that was a mixture of the primaries:

experiments of Professor J. D. Forbes, which I witnessed in 1849… that blue and yellow do not make green, but a pinkish tint, when neither prevails in the combination… result of mixing yellow and blue was, I believe, not previously known.

— James Clerk Maxwell, Experiments on colour, as perceived by the eye, with remarks on colour-blindness (1855), Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Maxwell's color top (1895) and one from Popular Science Monthly (1877)

Maxwell took this a step further by using a circular scale around the rim with which to measure the ratios of the primaries, choosing vermilion, emerald, and ultramarine.

Spinning methods

Finger twirling

Smaller tops have a short stem, and are set in motion by twirling it using the fingers. A thumbtack may also be made to spin on its tip in the same way.

Strings and whips

Extract from Children's Games (1560)

A typical fist-sized model, traditionally made of wood with a blunt iron tip, is meant to be set in motion by briskly pulling a string or rope tightly coiled around the body. The rope is best wound starting near the tip and progressing up along the widening body, so that the tension of the string will remain roughly constant while the top's angular speed increases.

These tops may be thrown forward while firmly grasping the end of the string and pulling it back. The forward momentum of the top contributes to the string's tension and thus to the final spin rate.

In some throwing styles, the top is thrown upside-down, but the first loop of the rope is wound around a stubby "head". Then, the sudden yank on the head as the string finishes unwinding causes the spinning top to flip over and land on its tip.

Alternatively, tops of this class may be started by hand but then accelerated and kept in motion by striking them repeatedly with a small whip.

Augers

Some larger models are set in motion by means of a built-in metal auger (spiral plunger). In these models, the actual top may be enclosed in a hollow metal shell, with the same axis but decoupled from it; so that the toy may appear to be stationary but "magically" balanced on its tip.

Magnetic fields

Some modern tops are kept perpetually in motion by spinning magnetic fields from a special ground plate.

Notable types

A cheap plastic version of the perinolaCarved wooden rattleback

Gould classifies tops into six main types: twirler, supported top, peg-top, whip-top, buzzer, and yo-yo.

Modern functional art tops

Modern tops have several sophisticated improvements, such as ball bearings of ruby or a hard ceramic like tungsten carbide, that reduces the friction with the ground surface. Functional art tops have become collectibles built using varied techniques in metal-working, glass-working, and wood-working.

Physics

A precessing gyroscope

The motion of a top is described by equations of rigid body dynamics, specifically the theory of rotating rigid bodies.

Because of the small contact area between the tip and the underlying surface, and the large rotational inertia of its body, a top that is started on a hard surface will usually keep spinning for tens of seconds or more, even without additional energy input.

Typically the top will at first wobble until friction and torque between the tip and the underlying surface force it to spin with the axis steady and upright. Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, longstanding scientific studies (and easy experimentations reproducible by anyone) show that reducing the friction increases the time needed to reach this stable state (unless the top is so unbalanced that it falls over before reaching it). After spinning upright (in the so-called "sleep" position) for an extended period, the angular momentum will gradually lessen (mainly due to friction), leading to ever increasing precession, finally causing the top to topple and roll some distance on its side. In the "sleep" period, and only in it, provided it is ever reached, less friction means longer "sleep" time (whence the common error that less friction implies longer global spinning time).

The total spinning time of a top is generally increased by increasing its moment of inertia and lowering its center of gravity. These variables however are constrained by the need to prevent the body from touching the ground.

Asymmetric tops of virtually any shape can also be created and designed to balance.

An exhaustive description of the mathematics and physics of the top can be found in the four volume monograph of Felix Klein et al.

Competitions

There are many official competitions for top spinning as a sport, such as the U. S. National Championships and the World Championships. During the COVID-19 pandemic contests would be often held online, with contestants submitting videos.

In popular culture

The Jean Shepherd story "Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah" revolves around top-spinning in the fictional Depression-era American city of Hohman, Indiana. The bully and the named top in the title are challenged by Shepherd's ongoing protagonist Ralph and a so-called "gypsy top" of similar design to Mariah named Wolf.

The Top is a short story by bohemian writer Franz Kafka.

Rock band The Cure released The Top album in 1984, named, and at least partially inspired, by the toy of the same name. The album includes the title track in which the sound of a spinning top can be heard at the beginning of the song.

The top is a focal element and metaphysical symbol in the movie Inception (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In the final shot, the camera moves over the spinning top just before it appears to be wobbling.

In 2022, an Armenian-styled spinning top, with the song "Spin the Magic", was chosen as the theme art and the main motif for the 20th edition of Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Yerevan, Armenia.

See also

References

  1. Cromwell, Sara (2022-06-24). "Summer Fun: Make a Spinning Top". Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology. Retrieved 2024-05-01.
  2. ^ Gould, D. W. (1973). The Top. NY: Clarkson Potter. pp. 20–24. ISBN 0-517-50416-2.
  3. Tames, Richard; Williams, Brian (2003). Ancient Roman Children. Capstone Classroom. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-4034-0518-0.
  4. Harman, Peter Michael (1998). The Natural Philosophy of James Clerk Maxwell. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00585-X.
  5. Maxwell, James Clerk (2003). The Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-49560-4.
  6. Gould, D. W. (1973). The Top. NY: Clarkson Potter. p. 32. ISBN 0-517-50416-2.
  7. National Recreation Association (1965). Recreation. p. 92. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13.
  8. ^ Crabtree, H. (1909). An Elementary Treatment of the Theory of Spinning Tops and Gyroscopic Motion. London: Longman, Green and C. ISBN 9781418179892.
  9. Bächer, Moritz; Whiting, Emily; Bickel, Bernd; Sorkine-Hornung, Olga (August 10–14, 2014). "Spin-It: Optimizing Moment of Inertia for Spinnable Objects" (PDF). ACM Conference on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  10. Klein, F.; Sommerfeld, A. (2014). The Theory of the Top. Birkhäuser Basel. ISBN 9780817648268.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. "ITSA – International Top Spinners Association". Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  12. Shepherd, Jean (1976). "Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah" in Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters. New York: Doubleday Dolphin Books. ISBN 0-385-11632-2
  13. Kafka, Franz. The Complete Stories. New York City: Schocken Books, 1995.
  14. "Inception Ending Explained: Why It Doesn't Matter If The Spinning Top Falls". Slash Film. 13 January 2022.
  15. "'Spin The Magic' revealed as Junior Eurovision 2022 theme". junioreurovision.tv. 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2022-09-26.

Further reading

  • Greenler, Robert. "Chasing the Rainbow - Recurrences in the life of a scientist". Elton-Wolf Publishing, 2000. The top spinners from Kota Baru, Malaysia.
  • Perry J. "Spinning Tops". London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1870. Reprinted by Project Gutemberg ebook, 2010.
  • A forum discussing all things related to the art of Top Spinning: iTopSpin.com
  • "Top" . The New Student's Reference Work . 1914.
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