Quasi Golden Ratio LEGO top spinning for a minute plus
Very nice! And it did spin for over a minute. But my own tests on a flat surface with a much finer tip (17 vs. 1.5 mm radius of curvature) indicate that a top like this spins down to critical speed in 10-15 s at most.
That is what I found too: if I use those ceramic balls (4mm diameter) as tips, I struggle to get to the 30 seconds. The 17 mm radius of that flat tip is doing a lot good for this top and the fact that it sometimes completely forgets to fall gave me another idea (not related to offset tops):
Is there a reversing top that regularly forgets to fall over when it is slowing down? Would be cool in a way.
And another thing: in German "Das Ei des Kolumbus" is a proverbial phrase.
I do not know how well it is known in other parts of the world:It refers to the story that the famous Columbus was given the task to sit an egg on its tip. Everybody thought it would be impossible but he just smashed the egg with its tip a bit onto the table. The tip broke a bit, but it sat on its tip now.
Now, if we spin a hard boiled egg it will rise and continue spinning on its tip. So in principle if someone is extremely lucky, the egg could also forget to fall as it spins down, we would have another "Ei des Kolumbus".