Why does a spinning top stay upright?
The Stubborn Spinner
Why does a spinning top stay upright?
You flick your wrist and the top spins on its tip — balancing, steady, refusing to fall. Stop the spin, and down it goes. What's going on?
When the top spins, every bit of it is racing in circles. The paint, the wood, the tip — all whirling around that invisible line down the middle called the axis. And here's the thing: stuff that's moving wants to keep moving in the same direction. That's inertia.
