Dynamical top. A brass spinning top on a stand. The top has six knobs on its edge and three on its upper surface. On a rod projecting from the top is a paper disc divided into green, blue, red and yellow quarters.

ABDNP:201351a

Brass top on brass stand pivoting on jeweled insert to design described by James Clerk Maxwell in the paper ' '. The adjustments allow small changes to be made in the moments and products of inertia and also the position of the support to be altered relative to the centre of gravity of the top. The top can be used to investigate general aspects of rotational motion notably precession and stability. A video was made of the top in use by Dr Roger Clark in the 1980s with commentary narrated by Professor Jim Penman who hailed from Ayrshire. The top is a commercial production in 1890s of an original design by Maxwell. It is more elegant than the original tops that Maxwell had made in Aberdeen by Smith & Ramage. Maxwell's own top is with the Cavendish Lab in Cambridge and the one he sent to J. D. Forbes in Edinburgh is now with the Royal Museum of Scotland. The coloured disk at the end of the axis is a replacement made in the 1970s.

Early: 1885 Late: 1899

Brass cardboard,

Europe, England, London

LEMUR:1000011 ABDUA:31047

Physical Object

bc9c573b-173a-45ff-b552-4c14b00ec631