Toy Top with Science Journal

You’ve played with fidget spinners and spinning tops, but have you ever designed them? In this design challenge, participants will develop and test their very own spinning toy! Toy designers and engineers get to play with their toys, but they also need a scientific way to figure out how to make it most fun. Use everyday materials to build a spinning toy, then test it using the accelerometer sensors found in smartphones!

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activity video:

Toy Tops

subject

age range

duration

materials

safety issues

keywords

Balance, center of mass, rotational motion, pivot point, inertia, sensors, accelerometer, data science

source

The Tech Museum