An inverting or tippe top is a classic physics toy: a spinning top that spontaneously inverts itself to spin on its handle at high speed, then rolls back over onto its base when it stops. Turns out, four spheres joined in a close-packed tetrahedron will do the same thing, and this quick video tutorial from YouTuber VTK9990 shows one made from four marbles and some epoxy. [via The Automata / Automaton Blog]
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12 thoughts on “How-To: Make an inverting top”
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It’s not inverting, it’s just flipping up on its side.
p.s. why is the the blog still on movable type, I thought make was switching (i want a username without a 2 at the end).
But the classic tippe top does, in fact, invert.
When I watch the video closely, I see a tetrahedron composed of two orange and two green cat’s eye marbles. The video starts with a green marble “up” and, while the top is spinning in its “excited state,” it has another green marble “down.” But I think they are not the same green marble.
Neils Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli with tipee top, U. Lund Sweden on May 31 1951. Photograph by Erik Gustafson:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Pauli_wolfgang_c4.jpg
Also search for “Superegg” of mathematician-poet Piet Hein
And try the “Oloid” by P. Schatz
Reuleaux Triangle of F. Reuleaux
My own contribution is “Square Wheels” (on amasci.com)
– Naive you are
if you believe
life favors those
who aren’t naive.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Piet_Hein
Thanks!
I made one 2 years ago, with the help of this video, cuit funny and intriguing.