Which Metal Spinning Top Spins the LONGEST?

[@Beyondthepress]

Use my link foreverspin.com/?hydraulic/ and code hydraulic to get a free titanium stand for your spinning top!

[@metern]

Every time they say, "Welcome to the Beyond The Press channel." I hear."Welcome To The Built The Press channel." 😂

[@metern]

Use a string on the top part. Then you can spin it up to high speed.

[@lambdaprog]

Highest density => Highest initial kinetic energy

[@pattheplanter]

Solid gold would have had a good density and low friction.

[@lambdaprog]

@@pattheplanter Pure gold would come second.

[@diltzm]

We need a depleted Uranium top then.

[@andersvandegevel8355]

True, but the frictional coefficient between the tops and the base will have a bearing too (sorry, not sorry)

[@Jake-yt8ss]

@@lambdaproggold after tungsten because its softer and probably more friction. the harder the material, the longer the point stays sharp

[@TroyRubert]

Spinning tops are a deceptively simple engineering challenge. Look up the shapes of the record holders. The optimization is crazy.

[@ABoringTool]

Hide an electromagnet in one

[@TroyRubert]

@@ABoringTool you can enter in the unlimited league.

[@MikeOrkid]

The polished Stainless is so simple yet beautiful.

[@rob6850]

Wolfram for the W

[@pattheplanter]

Nicely done.

[@ronwingrove683]

You win one nerd point for today, sir. Well done.

[@chipmunkk]

would be cool to see weight vs spin time on a chart

[@MiniLuv-1984]

How fast and long does the top spin in 0 atm, 1 atm, 10 atm and 100atm?

[@ElectricNed]

And can you make an ideal spinning surface from very hard material? Maybe Rockwell C >55? Or compare surfaces with different roughness measurements.

[@bunnykiller]

made a top for physics class, it was HDPE at 4" dia, 2.75" tall with a ceramic ball ( .125" dia) as the tip, was spun up to 15K rpm and placed on a concave pyrex "dish" in a vacuum chamber, it spun for 4 hrs 22 min 16 secs.. at one point it got settled in to a spot and looked like it was just standing there, no wobble or axial movement or precession occuring. Might have gone longer but the ceramic ball wore a divot into the glass and became a source of friction on the tip... unfortunately, the top was dropped on the tip and shattered the ball making it useless. 3 attempts were made to replace the ball but the machinist wasnt able to get the new ball perfectly centered.

[@woody442]

Mass = moment of inertia = rotational emergy

[@Beyondthepress]

but also the most friction force under the top!

[@hugolandheer7008]

@@Beyondthepress But the hardness has influence on yhe size of the contact point and thus on the friction.

[@ABoringTool]

​@@Beyondthepresslol sure, 😅 from 0.00001N of friction to 0.00002N

[@llearch]

Yeah, I'd be interested in a pretty graph of model against mass, and model against time; comparing these two lines should show some predictable features (eg, tungsten being much heavier therefore running for longer) but also might show some interesting outliers - like, for example, cast iron running for a lot longer due to the mentioned elsewhere frictional coefficient. I'm also pondering how much effect differences in placement on the launch pad has - does it make a difference if you're 2mm to the left or right of center, for example? 2cm? how much matters, and how much effect does it have? Heck, what created the neat pattern on the launch surface? the science is fascinating. ;-]

[@Jake-yt8ss]

@@Beyondthepress no its very low friction because its pretty hard and touches only on the rotation axis. The point stays sharper for longer than with softer high density material. Initial kinetic energy divided by Deceleration time gives the "breaking power". Geometry and surface should be identical so neglible. So we could work out the friction of every top by calculating the rotational energy at the start, if the spinning speed was consistent.

[@steveweinberg462]

Mind kindof blown. My money was on tungsten due to its density, but I was amazed how long cast iron lasted vs. denser M2. Google tells me that cast iron has a coefficient of friction of 0.4 vs 0.82 for tool steel! I'd never have guessed that!

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Cast iron has graphite/carbon crystals throughout it.

[@steveweinberg462]

@@napalmholocaust9093 I learned something new today.

[@SilvaDreams]

Cast iron is rather dense itself, also very hard which is why it shatters instead of bending much like tungsten. So the tips likely resisted deformation as they spun. Had they had more strongly tapered tips so there was less friction it would have been more noticeable.

[@stephaneduhamel7706]

It went pretty much as I expected, the only thing I was unsure about was the mysterious "gold plated" top, I couldn't guess which rank it would have because we don't know its density. I guess it's some kind of steel under the gold plating?

[@BenAlternate-zf9nr]

What I'm seeing is, Nickel is best... ...for checking if you're still dreaming.

[@MrTomppavaan]

Really need link to the music. Awesome tunes!

[@jsnowdendavies]

I liked the tunes

[@Bob5mith]

I made a pull string top in high school metals class, three actually. The all aluminum version was easiest to spin, but the tip blunted before it finished spinning. The all steel one was too hard to get spinning fast enough to stay spinning very long. The final version had a steel shaft pressed into an aluminum flywheel. I got that version to spin for six minutes and fifteen seconds. It won second place in the state high school machining competition. I wonder if the tungsten top would have still won if they were spun manually. I know they won't all get up to the same RPM when spun manually, but that is how they are used. Not many people are going to be able to spin them all up to the same RPM with a drill.

[@crescentwind1032]

As interesting as the main channel video was about them getting crushed differently, I really wanted to see them spin first and so I'm so glad you did this.

[@Average_Brad]

Fell down the top spinning rabbit hole once. The amount of engineering that goes into record breaking tops and the results people have been able to achieve is surprisingly fascinating, even without the "science maker five million" ;)

[@ViiKing_]

One thing I love doing with mine is to spin my heaviest one really fast and then spin my lightest one in the opposite direction next to it and just listen to the clicking of when the heavy one keeps the light one spinning. Mine are the stainless steel and the aluminium ones but I'd love to see it done with the Tungsten and magnesium ones

[@resurgam_b7]

Before watching the video, I would guess tungsten; it's the densest, so it will have the most rotational momentum assuming all the tops are spun to the same speed. Also, how on earth do you machine tungsten into that shape? What kind of tools do you use to cut the metal that usually is the tool?

[@steadfasttherenowned2460]

I have a top with a synthetic ruby insert for the contact point. And one with a ceramic ball bearing for the contact point.

[@pattheplanter]

Wouldn't nylon be pretty good for the contact point?

[@resurgam_b7]

@@pattheplanter For low friction, sure, but for durability, it would be quite lacking. Despite producing lower friction, nylon is too soft to survive for very long. Even if you only ever spun up the top on near perfectly flat, hard surfaces like a pane of glass, it would still eventually wear down and deform, and spinning it on surfaces with imperfections like table tops, glazed tiles or metal plates would accelerate the degradation significantly.

[@pattheplanter]

@@resurgam_b7 I am old. I wouldn't need it to last very long.

[@resurgam_b7]

@@pattheplanter Haha, fair enough 😂

[@Speeder84XL]

Nice! I expected the tungsten one to go for the longest, becuase of the density - given they all where the same size and shape, their air resistance is pretty much the same, but the tungsten one has more mass (even if the surface is smooth, it still doesn't have zero air friction and at 4500 rpm they where most likely starting out fast enough for this to matter). Also, it's interesting how quickly many of them stopped - which indicates they were quite well balanced (the behaviour of the wobbling at the end also indicated they got down to very low speed before the fell over).

[@dougalexander7204]

Tungsten was the winner and that makes sense, but it was interesting how stable the brass top was. …until it wasn’t.

[@ick5353]

Ohhhh that stainless steel top at the 3:05 mark is trippy!

[@rob6850]

That was super cool how the three stopped at almost exactly the same time

[@metern]

Of course, the Tungsten top will spin the longest. It's the heaviest 😁.

[@ehsnils]

It's also very hard. So I'd say that it's a combination of mass and hardness that's providing the best result.

[@marksmithson1414]

Lauri and Hanna, this is a very amazing test. Thank you for the content

[@Colorado_Native]

Wow, that cast iron top was stable as could be.

[@NinjaQuick]

tungsten's heat properties and density absolutely carried it. Brass is no slouch in terms of density but it has exceptionally bad thermal properties compared to steel or cast iron.

[@metern]

Use a string on the top part. Then you can spin it up to high speed.

[@waynesworldofsci-tech]

Amazing. I want the entire set!

[@tankmlee]

imagine playing 40k and your opponent pulls out his tungsten dice for the first roll,

[@HL65536]

I would really like some metal dice other than the standard cube shape, made from different metals. There are e.g 20-sided, 12-sided, ... (a standard set for tabletop pen-and-paper games). They should be actually usable (rounded corners, not table-busting sharp ones).

[@Gersberms]

Now we need to compare this to solid gold and solid osmium tops.

[@TheOvadex]

Right from the thumbnail I had my money on tungsten since its high density would have the best angular momentum.

[@mvc1234]

You can create create a low drop rig to make this without human error. love the vid

[@jft1911]

I would think the denser metals having a higher mass would then have higher angular momentum. And you might have introduced some precession lifting up the drill. Not sure if that would make a difference or not in this case. A drill press might make it more consistent.

[@d4rk0v3]

I knew it would be tungsten just based on how dense, therefore heavy it is in comparison to the rest. The most inertia of all of them. I knew the gold would drop out deceptively early because of how soft it is. The tip would deform/erode more quickly (even just the plating), increasing friction and slowing it down. Solid gold would outlast a few others, but not tungsten.

[@sdspivey]

The mass of each is going to be different. That is what matters most in the spinning time. That brass one was pretty dang stable, but I knew it didn't have the mass to keep going.

[@Vikanuck]

Haven’t watched this… and despite being in the comments I’m actively not looking at other ones so as not to spoil my guess… but on a whim I’m just gonna guess either brass or bronze. I dunno why… I just know lots of instruments are made from brass not just because of the sound, but because some instruments need to be so perfectly balanced and proportioned, and brass has historically kind of been the ‘go-to’ choice for that… and I just feel like all the other ones are either too heavy or too light to get a decently long enough spin from. If I’m wrong, ignore this, and if I’m right, g’head and feel free to tell me how super wicked badass and kewl my thinkings are.

[@boyraceruk]

I've paused the video to bet on bronze. It's hard so good tip for low friction and it's self-lubricating if that makes a difference.

[@danielnarbett]

That was awesome thanks guys ❤😊

[@KavorkaDesigns]

The dice holes need to be different sizes as too not load the weight of the cut sides unequally, the will not be random with same size drill holes for each numbered side. Try spinning them on a curved cut and polished ruby crystal as with gears inside a watch

[@tomholroyd7519]

I was on the edge of my seat for BRASS

[@ni_wink84]

I built a titanium and Mallory metal top in high school as a project to see which spin longer, I had to take time to balance them and in my test the heavier metal spun the longest every time but they were hand spun so not as accurate

[@guytech7310]

The only area that needs to be of a hard metal is the tip that touches the surface & the surface material. Harder materials will spin the longest. Probably the cast iron spun second longest is because of the carbon acting as a dry lube. If you take the nickel top and add a tungsten tip it should spin a lot longer. Using a glass plate as the surface would also help. Some of the points on the other tops make have different profiles causing more friction than others (ie blunt tip will have more friction).

[@evanvavoulas4011]

The stainless steel one was still moving in a funny way

[@xpndblhero5170]

This is going to be super satisfying.... Especially if they spin them w/ a power tool, Nevermind I just heard about the Sciencemaker 5 million, this is gonna be good. 👏🤣

[@WoodworkerDon]

This video is Top Shelf. 😉

[@TrackGeeks]

My guess was the cast iron and tungsten would be longest. Guessed right for once! :D

[@Herbybandit]

My money was on the Tungsten from the beginning, dense and heavy mass.

[@reggiep75]

Was rooting for Brass, with it's sturdy spin, but then it bailed out on me.

[@PuffDaddyLungFish]

0:59 = pigeon on steroids mating call. Oddly, it wasn't what the power spinner sounded like. Like he said it would, wink.

[@MrGemaxos]

Try different tip materials with the same body. Tungsten was clearly superior because of the density. But would it still win if the others have an equal mass?

[@heathbanks5755]

Dude what a cool video. Nice guys

[@Hebdomad7]

I wonder what it would take to make a depleted uranium spinner.

[@andreasstager1642]

The heaviest one will last longer, P - for physics. You've missed depleted Uranium. This one inside of the vacuum or Helium bath will outpace all others and will spin nearly forever.

[@takanara7]

Tungsten is denser then Uranium. Plutonium is slightly denser (only about 20 grams of which exist in labs). Rhenium, Platinum, Iridium and Osmium all have higher density then any radioactive element that we know the density of (like, maybe those crazy high count elements would have higher density if they could exist long enough to cool down and solidify, but they're so radioactive even if you could instantly create a kg of the stuff it would instantly vaporize itself anyway)

[@commiellama]

I hope one day I'll find someone who looks at me the same way Lauri looks at tungsten

[@Hans-Peter-o9n]

Tungsten because it's is by far the heaviest (=> more kinetic energy) und probably also the hardest (=> least friction).

[@TsunauticusIV]

Now make the top 3 the same mass and spin again

[@thesandtiger]

wow i thought the cast metal would been first out

[@RaymondSwanson-u9y]

I thought that the cast iron would spin the longest. Less friction between the relatively soft metal top and the hard metal base.

[@michalthekind]

Hard and Dense is always good.

[@tfrowlett8752]

My gold plated top spins for up to five minutes with a good spin and on a glass surface

[@davidjernigan8161]

Would having the rim of the flywheel portion of the top increase the spin time?

[@ggarber4763]

I guess you accidentally left out the word tungsten. I think that would improve the non-tungsten ones. If I remember physics, you want the most mass moving fastest to store the most energy to keep it spinning. So it is probably best to put as much mass as far out on a rim as practical, and have a low friction contact point. The rest of the top probably isn't super important except for making sure it is strong enough to hold up to use. I wonder if eddy currents from a rotating magnetic field would be a good way to spin them up. Uhm, kind of like type of motor commonly used in house fans, or maybe instead BLDC motor like. Might be able to cheat and keep it spinning indefinitely that way.

[@napalmholocaust9093]

I expect microscopic galling between dissimilar metals vs the steel plate. Spin time can't independent of material.

[@FriedSpamAndChips]

Brass just standing its ground like a gigachad

[@metern]

Every time they say, "Welcome to the Beyond The Press channel." I hear."Welcome To The Built The Press channel." 😂

[@intelboydj1]

I imagine that we're in the Beyblade stadium!!! 3, 2, 1, let it rip!!!

[@vrede8650]

The prices for these things, though. Maybe cut the prices by 50% and I'll think about it.

[@JuanHernandez-dw4vq]

Who else had their money on tungsten the whole time.

[@nooneyouknow9399]

Appears there is a tool mark at the center of your plate

[@intelboydj1]

Nickel spinning top is the shortest spin and tungsten spinning top is the longest spin!!!!

[@IRNoahBody]

its almost as if the heavier it is, the longer it spins

[@mikek_dk]

Would a drop of light oil make them spin longer or shorter?

[@Hotmedal]

Maybe gold plated tungsten top would be faster

[@bigdapman1990]

I'm betting tungsten. Got the weight behind it. And it's super hard.

[@commanderoof4578]

Ok cool i was right its tungsten This is due to its hardness reducing the friction as if sliding 2 panes of glass over each other as well as its sheer mass

[@Mike-fg9tx]

My favorite element won!

[@joepeck2942]

Tungsten was my favorite to win 🎉

[@TilmanBaumann]

I would have thought nickel beats steel. Isn't it more dense?

[@thomasechols8834]

She should sing something, sounds like she has a nice voice for it.

[@pattheplanter]

Titanium dice with a different colour on each face?

[@mortar4691]

Literally inception

[@Beyondthepress]

For the longest inception cliffhanger I would definetly go with tungsten :D

[@blackkissi]

a missed opportunity to cut the video moments it was about to fall over :D

[@ZMAN_420]

Very cool!👍🏻

[@PW_12345]

Make sure to let us all know a few days before the kickstarter campaign sobwe can be ready!

[@Kragatar]

Those tops are neat, but omg... priced for CEOs and rich youtubers only.

[@Sarthorius1968]

Should be a glass base.

[@askeletonhl2asian897]

Love this!

[@VOLVO1234]

Nice video❤❤❤

[@MrsNoji]

Woooow that's cool!!!

[@nasonguy]

Can we get a W in the chat for the Tungsten?!

[@pepschmier1974]

The gold plated might win as well when it was out of pure gold!! Lead is missing! An copper!!!

[@TeamZcan]

Not a particularly great surface to run them on, tho.

[@BriankSmith181]

Model airplane starter,used to start the nitro planes hand held starter

[@houseofmine]

"gold plated"...gold plated what??

[@ragondynasty1580]

everyone is going to buy tungsten top spins--->

[@mrleonspain]

Aww, they are very expensive :(

[@kennethwcole2879]

What no aluminum

[@rezdm]

I remember seeing a competition in Japan (on youtube) of CNC vs "hand-made" (not with a file and sandpaper, but understandable) of spinners. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6KQmZafmdmdn68&ab_channel=MikeDias This looks like not original, but close enough.

[@wewillrockyou1986]

Brass is lowest friction

[@jamiemacdonald436]

Cast iron has a lower coefficient of friction.

[@mudcrab1317]

Unless you're talking about coefficients I would say it had much more friction than those that were processing around rather than spinning in a fixed position. The trade off is wind resistance

[@ZeroFox1970]

No Ti ?

[@Beyondthepress]

the lightest tops were too difficult to get nicely out from our spinner :D We tried a LOT but no luck with them.

[@ZeroFox1970]

@@Beyondthepress thanks for your reply and explanation cheers 🇦🇺