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A Trompo is a top which is spun by winding a length of string around the body, and launching it so that lands spinning on its point. If the string is attached to a stick the rotation can be maintained by whipping the side of the body. The string may also be wound around the point while the trompo is spinning in order to control its position or even lift the spinning top to another surface.


Etymology

These
toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
s are popular in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
where the name ''trompo'' emerged, but there are many different local names. In Spain, these toys may be called ''trompo'' or ''peonza'', ''perinola'', and ''pirinola''. In the Philippines, they are called ''trumpo'' or ''turumpo'', while in Portugal they are called ''pião''. In India it is called Bugari (Kannada); children make these tops by nailing wood and spin them with twisted jute rope. In Japan, similar tops are known as ''koma'', with most cities having a particular design. In Germany a ''Peitschenkreisel'' may also be called ''Doppisch, Dildop, Pindopp, Dilledopp, Triesel or Tanzknopf'' (roughly ''dancing top'') In Morocco it is called ''Trombia'', and it is often made out of wood and painted in a reddish brown color. In Dutch it is called "priktol" (see https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priktol). A "tol" is a top. An other type of top is the "zweeptol". A "zweep" is a whip. (see https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderspelen and find "zweep" on that page)


History

There is historical evidence suggesting the existence of trompos as early as 4000 BCE, and trompos have been found on the bank of the Euphrates river, likely belonging to an ancient civilization. There is also evidence that members of the ancient
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
civilizations used trompos as well.


Description of motion

The
gyroscopic effect A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
allows the trompo to spin over its point until the
force of gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong ...
ends up at an angle with respect to the top's axis of rotation, causing a variation in the location of the
center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...
as the trompo undergoes
precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In oth ...
(where the axis of rotation of the trompo moves in a circular path). The fall of the top is directly proportional to the angle between the direction of gravity on the trompo and the top's axis of rotation. The fall is also directly proportional to the magnitude of the force of gravity and is inversely proportional to the trompo's angular velocity. As
air resistance In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...
and
friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of ...
with the ground begin to slow the trompo's spin, its center of gravity begins to destabilize and the top's bottom point begins to trace a circular path with the ground. Soon the trompo becomes fully unbalanced and it falls to the ground, rolling until it comes to rest. This general motion is largely shared among many trompo variants, but differences in several design
parameters A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when ...
(such as the mass distribution, friction between the bottom point and the ground, and the spinning method) can still lead to significant variation in the aforementioned variables.


Form

The trompo's form has varied enormously throughout history. Though trompos have traditionally been cone-shaped, there are also diverse variations in trompo form across regions. However, despite these regional differences in design, all trompos are constructed to be capable of employing the gyroscopic effect. Trompos generally have an approximately pear-shaped body and are usually made of a hard wood such as hawthorn,
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
or beech, although new resins and strong plastic materials have also been used.
Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
trompos have also been found from ancient civilizations near the Euphrates river. Whipping tops often have a more cylindrical shape to provide a bigger surface to be struck by the whip. A trompo has a button-shaped on top, usually bigger than the tip on which it spins, and it is generally made of the same material as the rest of the body. The base of a trompo is a stud or spike which may have a groove or roller-bearing to facilitate lifting the spinning trompo with a whip or string without imposing much friction on the body. The trompo surface may be painted or decorated, and some versions incorporate synthetic sound devices. The small size diameter and low
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
of most trompos means that mechanical
whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...
s would cause excessive drag (physics) and reduce their spinning time. The Philippine ''trumpo'' differs in the tip, which is straight and pointed. It usually looks like a nail embedded in a wooden spheroid.


Play

Playing with a trompo consists of throwing the top and having it spin on the floor. Due to its shape, a trompo spins on its
axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
and swirls around its
conic In mathematics, a conic section, quadratic curve or conic is a curve obtained as the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a specia ...
tip which is usually made of iron or steel. A trompo uses a string wrapped around it to get the necessary spin needed. The player must roll the cord around the trompo from the metallic tip up. The user must then tie the string in a knot on the button-shaped tip before releasing it. When rolling the cord around the trompo, the cord must be tightly attached to it. The technique for throwing a trompo varies. One end of the cord must be rolled around the player's fingers and with the same hand the trompo must be held with the metallic tip facing upwards. Championships are held in different Latin American countries, especially in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, Colombia,
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
,
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
, and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
where it is very popular among children of the middle and lower classes. In Mexico most trompos sold are made of plastic, with a metal tip, and sometimes they are made of wood. There is a popular game called ''picotazos,'' where the main goal is to destroy the opponents' trompo. Another game is where a circle is drawn on the ground and a coin is placed in the middle, and the goal here is to strike the coin. In Puerto Rico, trompos are sometimes played similarly to certain marble games, with trompos being placed in a circle drawn on the ground. The goal of this variant is to knock the trompos out of the circle. Failure to spin or spinning in the circle causes your trompo to be placed in the circle, and another person has a turn to spin. Trompos in Puerto Rico and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
are frequently modified to have a sharper point. José Miguel Agrelot, a Puerto Rican comedian, hosted a long-standing television program, ''Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira'', whose name described the action of throwing and spinning a trompo. One of his comedic characterizations, mischievous boy Torito Fuertes, was a one-time sponsor of a line of trompos. The Filipino ''trumpo'' is basically played in the same manner, except that a knot is not tied into the tip before throwing it for the spin.


See also

* Top * Gyroscope * Bauernroulette *
Yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...


References

{{reflist Traditional toys Latin American culture Wooden toys Tops Articles containing video clips