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tonyPick [soylentnews.org] writes:

MentalFloss has an article mentioning the physics behind strange spinning toy behaviours [mentalfloss.com].

Today I learned: If you spin a hardboiled egg fast enough, it will stand up like a top. That's cool, but why does it happen?

This essentially links to a Physics Girl video on YouTube [youtube.com] from May, demonstrating and explaining these unexpected behaviours.

Spinning toys and tops have unusual behaviors. The famous tippe top flips itself over and spins on its stem. The PhiTOP stands up on its end, which you can also do with a hard-boiled egg. These behaviors all have to do with torque and angular momentum, like a bicycle wheel precessing around a rope due to gyroscopic behavior.

Originally spotted on Cocktail Party Physics Physics Week in Review [typepad.com].

The Physics Girl YouTube channel also has some more recent videos on using electromagnets to tear apart soda cans [youtube.com] and shrinking coins [youtube.com], which can be a bit "popular science presenter go 'woah' a lot", but are definitely worth a few minutes of viewing time.

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