Latto is called spinning top in English or simply a top. It is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom that can be spun vertically while balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
Once started, a top will normally wobble for a few seconds, spin upright for a few seconds, then begin to wobble with increasing amplitude as it loses energy (angular momentum), eventually tipping over and rolling on its side.
Tops come in a variety of shapes and materials, with the most common being wood, metal, and plastic, with a metal tip. They can be started by whirling a handle with your fingers, drawing a coiled rope around your torso, or using a built-in auger (spiral plunger).
Since antiquity, such toys have been used in solo or competitive children’s games, in which each participant tries to keep his or her top spinning for as long as possible, or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions on them, and they’re used as dice in games or for divination and ritual purposes.
History of the Toy Spinning Top
Most of us have spun a stone on its edge or an acorn on its tip as a child at some point. As the intricacies of our stone or acorn fade away, a smoother, more cylindrical shape develops, this idea harkens back to the dawn of history. Enters the object’s ability to defy gravity and spin upright. It was maybe man’s first encounter with deception and a “special effect.”
Because stones were used as man’s initial tools, the invention of the top is believed to have occurred concurrently in numerous regions around the world. As a result, we are unable to name one person as the father or mother of toppery. (TOPPERY is the study of tops in all of their forms.) Clay tops going back to 3500 B.C. have been discovered in Iraq archaeologically.
Whip tops dating from around 1250 B.C. have been discovered in China. Tops were also popular among the ancient Greeks, who represented them in humorous top scenarios on their ceramics. Roman children used tops to liven up their summer afternoons as early as 300 B.C.
So, let’s go back in time and look at the kinds of tops our forefathers and moms left us, and maybe we’ll be able to suggest a few spinning variations that they hadn’t thought of.
Theory behind Lattoo Spinning
The spinning top may appear simple in comparison to newer toys. However, the scientific forces that make it such a fascinating toy provide a quick glimpse into complex physics. Indeed, a physicist would give you a fascinating — and lengthy — explanation of how a spinning top works.
Let’s look at some of the basic forces that cause a top to spin without delving into complicated physics and maths. When you spin a top into motion, you apply a force that changes the potential (stored) energy in the top into kinetic energy, or motion energy.
It revolves along an invisible vertical axis as it spins in its upright state. If there were no other external forces acting on the top, the principle of conservation of angular momentum states that it would keep spinning eternally.
That is not the case, however. There is no such thing as a perfectly balanced and weighted top. Furthermore, the surfaces on which they rotate aren’t precisely level. Other forces, such as friction and gravity, can play a role as a result of these flaws.
