Get ready to celebrate ‘spinning top day’ on Oct. 12

International Top Spinning Day is observed annually on the second Wednesday of October – Oct. 12 this year – to “celebrate the joy and wonder that spinning tops bring into the world,” according to top expert Judith Schulz.

 

She is the curator of the Spinning Top and Yo-Yo Museum, located in Burlington, Wis., near Milwaukee.

 

The goal of International Top Spinning Day is to get thousands upon thousands of tops spinning around the world in “unusual places.” Participants are encouraged to submit photographs to the museum. The collection is shared with online patrons. 

Schulz said archaeologists have determined that spinning tops are the oldest toys in the world. Tops date back to as far as 35th century BC and some were discovered in King Tut’s tomb in Egypt. 

The top is in the running to be added to the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, N.Y., this year. The induction ceremony is Nov. 10. 

Schulz said: “The Earth is just like a large spinning top, rotating around a single axis.” 

She once told reporter Michael Bologna of the Chicago Tribune: “There is a universal appeal and sense of delight about tops that transcends age, nationality and personal background. Part of what is amazing about a top is the fact that you can make something stand up straight – at times seemingly motionless – while it’s actually moving. You could say it contradicts logic.”

 

Schulz began collecting tops in 1975. About a third of her 6,000 or so tops fit into her museum space. Yet, it’s an impressive and colorful assortment, visitors say. 

Schulz was featured on “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” television show (2003), demonstrating her ability to “throw a top.” She also appeared in a scene in the MGM film “My Summer Story” (1994). 

The Fondulac District Library in East Peoria, Ill., uses the top to teach science to young learners. 

“While the spinning top may seem very simple, there is actually a lot of advanced physics and mathematics that go into making a top spin,” the library staff says. “The spinning top illustrates several physics concepts including angular momentum, inertia, momentum, centripetal force, potential energy, kinetic energy, torque, gravity and friction.”

 

“Apply a force (with a turn or a twist) to create torque and start the top spinning. That converts the top’s potential energy into kinetic energy as it goes into motion.” 

“The way the top spins around the rotation axis gives it angular momentum that will remain constant until an external source, such as gravity or friction, acts on the spinning top.” (Picture a twirling figure skater spinning on the ice without getting dizzy.) 

Some tops have been clocked to spin for more than 50 minutes. Eventually, however, even a perfectly balanced, upright top will begin to slow down and start to wobble, wobble, wobble. Finally, the top will topple over and come to a stop. 

Top spinning day comes with its own anthem or theme song. It’s “Spinnin’ Top,” a Motown-sound single that was recorded in 1966 by The Orlons, a group out of Philadelphia. Featured vocalists were Rosetta Hightower and sisters Shirley and Audrey Brickley. The tune was written by Billy Jackson and Thom Bell. 

On the B-side of the record was “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The Orlons put an interesting “South Street” beat to the tune that was originally recorded by Dionne Warwick in 1963 that was an international hit. 

Spin that around on your trivia turntable.