Tops – Heavy or Light?

Opening Discussion

Ask your students about their last experience making tops, in the Tops – Big or Small? activity.  What did they discover about wide plates vs. narrow plates?  Make a list of these observations on a piece of chart paper or a chalkboard.  Were there any new variables they discovered that they can change to make their top spin differently?  Review the list you made last time, and add any new variables to it.  Tell them that you are going to give them some new materials to see if they can make a top that spins even longer.

The Challenge

Can you make a top that spins for at least 15 seconds, and can you figure out if a heavier or a lighter top spins longer?

Doing the Activity

1. Divide your class into teams of 3 for this activity.
2. Have each team choose a materials manager—that student should come up to the materials table and gather 8 small paper plates, 1 pencil, 1 stopwatch and up to 10 binder clips.
3. Build a top using between 1 and 8 plates.  Students should try tops using different numbers of plates, time them, and compare the results.

Let’s Talk About It

After 10–15 minutes, bring your students together away from the materials to talk about what they have discovered.  What have they learned about using multiple plates to make their tops?  Do heavier or lighter tops seem to spin longer?  What is challenging about making tops using more than one plate?  Ask each team to share their spinning times and the number of plates they used for each top they made, and write these results on a piece of chart paper or a chalkboard.

Ask your students if there is anything else they have learned about making a successful top.  If you have seen any interesting solutions while you observed the teams, try to ask questions of those teams that will encourage them to share their findings.

Build On What They Talked About

Have your students return to their construction. They may continue working with their original design, or start making a new top. Let them work until they have all achieved the 15-second goal. If some teams are struggling, observe these teams, paying special attention to their spinning technique (the 2-hand technique described in the first tops activity will improve their time); the location of the plate on the pencil (a plate lower down will work better); how tight or loose their plate is on the pencil (a loose plate will not spin well at all—a binder clip above and one below the plate on the pencil, pushed together so that they are squeezing the plate will help a lot); and anything else that you notice. Make sure not to give them these solutions, but ask them questions or refer to earlier conversations to help lead them to these answers.

Now that they have experimented with all of the different variables, it is time for your kids to put it all together and create Super Tops!