Tippy Top (1Q60.30)

Description:

A top that flips upside down and spins on its handle.

Procedure or Operation Notes:

Please practice a few times so the top stays on the demonstration table when it flips.

References, Comments, or Footnotes:

Wolfgang Pauli and Niels Bohr watch a tippy [tippe] top at the Institute of Physics in Lund, Sweden, 1954:

Source: Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics. Photograph by Erik Gustafson, 1954. Courtesy AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, Margrethe Bohr Collection.