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 by means of a built-in auger (spiral plunger). Such toys have been used since

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

in solitary or competitive

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

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

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

to inject randomness into games, or for

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...

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

Origins

The top is one of the oldest recognizable toys found on

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

sites. Spinning tops originated independently in cultures all over the world. Tops were used as toys in ancient Rome. Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for gambling and prophecy. Some

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s use tops to augment

in generating randomized results; it is in this case referred to as a spinner. Gould mentions maple

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

, celts (leading to

rattleback A rattleback is a semi-ellipsoidal top which will rotate on its axis in a preferred direction. If spun in the opposite direction, it becomes unstable, "rattles" to a stop and reverses its spin to the preferred direction. This spin-reversal appear ...

s), the fire-drill, the

spindle whorl A spindle whorl is a disc or spherical object fitted onto the spindle to increase and maintain the speed of the spin. Historically, whorls have been made of materials like amber, antler, bone, ceramic, coral, glass, stone, metal (iron, lead, lead ...

, 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 James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...

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: 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 Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr. and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991) ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York, p ...

, 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

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 String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

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 In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

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 A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

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 field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

s from a special ground plate.

Notable types

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

Battling Tops ''Battling Tops'' is a children's game invented by Eddy Goldfarb and first manufactured by Ideal in 1968. In the game, players launch spinning tops into an arena with the aim to have the final standing spinning top. The game has similarities to '' ...

** Beigoma, in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

** Beyblade **

Gasing pangkah Gasing pangkah is a competitive Malay game of spinning tops in which two or more players compete to strike each other's top out of a circle or to make it fall over and stop spinning. Considered part of the Malay state heritage, official tourname ...

, in Malaysia ** Spin Fighters ** Tuj lub, among

Hmong people The Hmong people ( RPA: ''Hmoob'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , ) are a sub-ethnic group of the Miao people who originated from Central China. The modern Hmongs presently reside mainly in Southwest China (Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chon ...

* Gaming and other tops **

Dreidel A dreidel, also dreidle or dreidl ( ; yi, דרײדל, dreydl, plural: ''dreydlech''; he, סביבון, sevivon) is a four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gamb ...

, traditionally played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. ** Pambaram ** Levitating top ** Bhawra, a gaming top used in Maharashtra in India **

Perinola 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 se ...

, a six-sided top, very similar to the dreidel, that is used for a similar game in Latin America. **

Rattleback A rattleback is a semi-ellipsoidal top which will rotate on its axis in a preferred direction. If spun in the opposite direction, it becomes unstable, "rattles" to a stop and reverses its spin to the preferred direction. This spin-reversal appear ...

, or celt, a top that reverses its spin direction ** Teetotum **

Tippe top A tippe top is a kind of top that when spun, will spontaneously invert itself to spin on its narrow stem. It was invented by a German nurse, Helene Sperl in 1898. Description A tippe top usually has a body shaped like a truncated sphere, with a ...

Trompo A Trompo is a top which is spun by winding a length of twine, string around the body, and launching it so that lands spinning on its point. If the string is attached to a whip, stick the rotation can be maintained by whipping the side of the bod ...

, or "Whipping top" ** Wizzzer

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

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 The moment of inertia, otherwise known as the mass moment of inertia, angular mass, second moment of mass, or most accurately, rotational inertia, of a rigid body is a quantity that determines the torque needed for a desired angular acceler ...

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.

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 are often held on-line, 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. The top is a focal element and metaphysical symbol in the movie '' Inception'', 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 slong "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.