Spinning top

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An assortment of spinning tops
Spinning a top using a cord

A spinning top, also called a spin-top or a top, is a toy with a squat round body that tapers to a point at the bottom designed to be spun on its vertical axis. Spinning tops balance on their tips due to the gyroscopic effect which stabilizes their rotation against gravity, thus making them stay spinning for a long time.

Tops can be made from many different materials like wood, metal, and plastic, and exist in different varieties, such as peg-tops and whip-tops. A top can be set in motion by spinning a handle with one's fingers, by pulling a rope or string coiled around the body of the top, or by a built-in auger (spiral plunger).

Once set in motion, a top usually wobbles for a few seconds, spins upright for a while, and then starts wobbling again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy until it eventually tips over and rolls on its side. If spun fast enough, tops will rise to a vertical position and stay there for a longer period of time.

Tops have been used since antiquity in solitary or competitive games, where players aim to make their top spin for as long as possible or knock out opponents' tops. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions on them and are used like dice to inject randomness into games, or for divination and ritual purposes.

History

Origins

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

Spinning tops emerged independently in various cultures worldwide and are considered among the oldest known toys, having been found by archaeologists on every inhabited continent. A decorated top was found in Tutankhamun's tomb dating to the 14th century BCE. Archaeologists have found clay spinning tops in Iraq dating back about 5,000 years. Tops dating back to around 1250 BCE have been found in China. Tops were used as toys in ancient Rome and are mentioned in the Iliad of Homer, Aristophanes's The Birds, and Virgil's The Aeneid.

Tops were a common sight across Europe by the 12th century. There are literary references that suggest some 16th century villages kept a large top that people spun in cold weather to keep themselves warm. However, it is contested as to whether this was a real or an imagined practice. The oldest tops found in Africa were from Egypt and came in the form of decorated stone discs with a central hole. These discs were found in the First Dynasty tomb of the official Hemaka at Saqqara (c. 2900 BCE). They are interpreted by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and by recent scholarship as ‘spinning tops’; another was excavated at the Greco-Roman town of Karanis in the Faiyum. Elsewhere in Africa, there is evidence of the history of spinning tops, although it is ethnographic rather than archaeological. Besides entertainment, tops have also historically been used for gambling and divination, referred to as cyclomancy. Some role-playing games use spinning tops to augment dice in generating randomized results; in this case, they are referred to as a spinner.

In Kyoto, during the Heian Period, Koma, a basic spinning top comprised of a shell spun by a string, became popular. Sources differ as to whether the toy originated in Japan or came from China originally. A type of spinning top called a Beigoma became popular in the Taisho Period, they were metal casts of the earlier Koma.

The author Douglas W. 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.

Modern history

Spinning tops were popular in cities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Tops became much more popular in the 1960s because of efforts to popularize the toy from the Duncan Toys Company. These toys were originally made of wood and painted, but later the tops were made of plastic.

In 1999, Japanese toy company Takara, later Takara Tomy, released the Beyblade, a spinning top toy designed for "fighting" wherein two Beyblades are spun against each other and the last to stop spinning wins. The name Beyblade was inspired by the earlier Beigoma.

In 2022, the top was the 77th toy inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play.

Color demonstrations with tops

Maxwell's color top (1895) and one from Popular Science Monthly (1877)

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:

[The] experiments of Professor J. D. Forbes, which I witnessed in 1849 ... [established] that blue and yellow do not make green, but a pinkish tint, when neither prevails in the combination ... [and the] 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 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

Twirling

Smaller tops with short stems are set in motion by twirling the stem with the fingers. It involves pinching the stem between the thumb and another finger which moves towards the palm to create rotation. Finger twirling is the most commonly used method, primarily used by beginners with well-balanced tops and easy-to-grasp stems.

Tops with long stems can be powered by spinning the stem between the palms of the hands. This method is more efficient, powering the top for much longer. This type of top may have developed from a tool used to create fire.

Strings and whips

Children whipping tops, detail 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.

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.

There are 3,000 year old Chinese whip-top artifacts.

Mechanical

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. Other mechanical designs use a crank on top of the spinner which utilizes gear ratios to quickly accelerate the spinner.

Beyblades occasionally feature rack-and-gear mechanisms wherein a toothed rack, connected to a gear inside the top, is drawn out from the spinner at speed causing rotation.

Physics

A precessing gyroscope

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

When a spinning top tilts, gravity exerts a torque about its point of contact with the surface. This torque changes the direction of the top's angular momentum, causing its spin axis to trace a circle around the vertical. This motion is called precession.

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 spun on a hard surface usually spins for longer without additional energy input.

Typically the top wobbles at first, until friction and torque between the tip and the underlying surface force it to spin with the axis steady and upright. Long-standing scientific studies 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 for an extended period in "the sleep position", the angular momentum gradually lessens due to friction, leading to increasing precession, which ultimately causes the top to topple and roll some distance on its side. In the "sleep" period, less friction means longer "sleep" time, which in some but not all cases results in a longer total spinning time. Depending on the moment of inertia and initial angular momentum, higher or lower friction can be optimized to ensure the longest period of "sleep" time which is correlated with higher global spin durations.

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.[citation needed]

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

A detailed classical analysis of tops, Ueber die Theorie des Kreisels, was published in 4 volumes between 1910 and 1922 by the researchers Felix Klein and Arnold Sommerfeld, translated into English as The Theory of the Top by G. Sandri and R. J. Nagem. The work is the foundation of many subsequent studies.

Types of tops

General classification

A top being started with a simple support and cord
  • Twirler tops are cast by twisting the stem with hands or fingers. Many common tops fall into this category.
  • Supported tops are set in motion by pulling a cord while a support of some kind holds the top in place. James Clerk Maxwell's color demonstration tops were of this type.
  • Peg-tops usually have pear-shaped bodies without a stem. Cords wrapped around the body of the top are used to launch them to the ground.
  • Whip-tops are cast with a whip. They are found worldwide, with the greatest incidence in Europe, the Americas, and northeastern Asia. In Europe, eel skin whips were preferred. The whip consists of a stock and a lash. The stock of the whip is held in the hand, while the lash is wrapped around the top. The stock is then swung to cast the top.
  • Tippe tops will spontaneously turn around and spin upside-down on the stick. Explaining the physics of the tippe top has been a topic of controversy.

Specific kinds of tops

Competing tops include:

Gaming and other tops include:

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

Global variations

Africa

Ghana

A top used for alikoto, which is often played in the sand

In Ghana, children play a spinning top game called alikoto. In alikoto, players spin one top each, and the person whose top falls first receives a hit on the hand from the one whose top continues to spin.

North Africa

Among chidren in Morocco and Tunisia, three classes of tops have been described: tops made from natural material (such as fruits, nuts, wood, and clay), tops made from waste material (such as bottle caps, jar lids, cans, straws, threads, etc.), and tops made by artisans. In Southeastern Morocco, for example, children make a top called tamzizelt from apricot kernels pierced by reed stems. Amazigh children in North Morocco make a top called trumbi from the cap of a five-liter bottle. A top collected circa 1898 during the Williams Moroccan Expedition is wooden with a metal tip.

Sierra Leone

A songoi top held in the Sierra Leone National Museum was made by drilling a hole into a palm nut and attaching a stick. A game is played where multiple people spin their tops simultaneously on a mat, and whoever's top knocks down the others wins.

South Africa

In South Africa, colorful tops (known as itola in isiXhosa) are sold at spaza shops. Children try to make the tops spin by pulling a string twisted around the top. A trick is picking up the top while it is still in motion.

Asia

China and Taiwan

In Yunnan, spinning tops are an important cultural element. The Jinggu and Shuangbai spinning tops are associated with the Yi people, and the Jizong spinning top is associated with the Wa people. In Guizhou, members of the Yao ethnic group compete in gyroscope competitions.

In Tachi, Taoyuan County, a popular top spinning game is played with large, heavy tops. Originally known as chien chien (Chinese: 千千; pinyin: qiānqiān), the game is believed to have originated in the Song dynasty.

Japan

Sasebo koma, a kind of top made in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture

In Japan, some jugglers perform difficult feats with tops, such as spinning a top along the edge of a sword or a wire. The practice of top spinning came to Japan by way of China around 1,200 years ago. Tops were initially not seen as children's toys, and only played with by wealthy people. By the mid-1800s, top spinning was a children's game. Traditional tops include beigoma, a top about three centimeters in diameter (described as "immensely popular from the end of World War II until the 1960s"), and oyama koma, a wooden top spun with a hemp string. Decorative Edo-style tops are carved by artisans, and resemble figures that move or dance when spun.

Southeast Asia

Malay wooden tops

The Malay ethnic group spread across Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia has many traditional types of tops (gasing) differing by build like the gasing Pahang, gasing Johor, gasing Riau, gasing Melaka and so on.

In the Malay Peninsula's east coast, games are played with peg-tops turned from wood, which are spun with a cord. Top spinning is said to have the status of an adult sport. The tops, which may spin as long as 20 minutes, can be tossed from person to person with wooden paddles. Competitions are undertaken between teams of players; the attacking team's objective is to strike the defending team's tops by casting their own. This is called gasing pangkah, and a Malaysian Gasing Association exists. While fewer games are played and fewer craftsmen make the tops today, there have been signs of revival in recent years.

The game continues to be played, though rarely, in modern Singapore among the older generation. There was a short-lived Singapore Gasing Federation (Fedegasi) in 1979.

South Asia

Children playing pambaram

In South India, a game called Pambaram is played, in which wooden tops are set spinning by rope. The objective of the game is to see who can spin their top and pick it back up using the rope the quickest. The game is played in a circle, and the tops are shot into the center of the circle. Players try to hit other players' tops to eliminate them. In North India, it is also called Lattoo.

Europe

Czech Republic

The káča (plural: káči) was first used in the Czech Republic in historical Bohemia and Moravia as a children's toy during the 17th century. Manufacturers like Detoa Albrechtice [cs] still produce káči, implementing colors that blend when spun.

England

Literary evidence suggests that whip-top spinning was a schoolchild's sport in Elizabethan era England. Shakespeare, for example, referred to tops in his plays, and a 1591 list of rules from Harrow School forbade play with tops on certain days.

Oceania

Australia

Aboriginal Australians used spinning tops prior to the arrival of Europeans. These tops may have developed from whorls, a type of spinning flywheel used to gather plant fibers.

The tops varied: they were made of rock, gourds, wood, nuts, beeswax, or clay. In the tropical areas of Australia, spinning tops were made primarily of gourds, as those were locally grown. The tops were usually spun using fingers or palms to twirl them, although some were spun using string made from plant fibers. In one collection of stone tops from the Torres Strait Islands, the tops were large: about 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) in diameter. The bodies of the tops were made of rock in a shape like a bead or lentil, with a long palmwood stick in the middle. On the stone bodies were paintings in red ochre; these depicted people, everyday life, or religion. The stone spinning tops were called kolaps. In another collection, the tops were smaller, about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, and were made with a body of a gourd instead of stone, with a stick drilled through it. The gourd had holes on its sides, creating a sound when spun. These tops, from a different culture, were called bunbuja. Generally, stone spinning tops were used for competitions between adults, while other types were toys for children.

Spinning tops were very popular in the northern islands of Australia, such as the Murray Islands. The natives would engage in top-spinning matches, with the person whose top lasted the longest winning. Some of these tops could spin for almost 30 minutes. In competitions, the tops could be spun on either seashells or ceramics. People of almost all ages participated. Usually the competitions were broken up into different teams for each section of the island.

Spinning tops were also popular among non-Indigenous Australians. Spinning tops were used as toys for children and teenagers. These wooden tops varied in size and were often painted in patterns of different colors. Some tops also had metal (brass) in them.

In the early 2000s, spinning tops were popularized in Australia by large companies such as Moose Toys. Spinning tops are used in school lessons in Australia to teach students about physics.

Polynesia

An assortment of traditional Māori tops, and whip.

The Māori of New Zealand have pōtaka made of stone or wood, they are made flat topped (pōtaka tā) or double ended (pōtaka kotorerua). Tops spun with a cord are called pōtaka takiri. Small hollow gourds stuck through with a peg were sometimes used as tops. In Tūhoe land, tops were used as part of a war ceremony; after a defeat, many people assembled with pōtaka and spun tops in the marae (meeting place) while singing a song.

Native Hawaiians made small tops or hū from candlenuts.

South America

Trompos in Chile

Chile

Trompos were introduced during the Spanish colonial period, which became part of folk culture and chilenidad (transl. "Chilean-ness"). National holidays like Fiestas Patrias commonly use trompos, which are featured in traditional games in local fondas.

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 were often held online, with contestants submitting videos and participating live via Zoom.

The primary international organization that oversees competitive spinning-top games is the International Top Spinners Association. 

A Beyblade is a popular toy line of battling spinning tops. Both international and local tournaments and competitions have risen in popularity.

In media

A Brazilian stamp depicting a top, 1979

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.[non-primary source needed]

"The Top" is a short story by Bohemian writer Franz Kafka.

Rock band The Cure released The Top album in 1984, named after, and at least partially inspired by, the toy of the same name. A spinning top can be heard at the start of the album's title track.[citation needed]

The top is a focal element and metaphysical symbol in the movie Inception (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, even appearing in the final shot.

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, held in Yerevan, Armenia.

See also

References

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Further reading