Paper clip spinning top

Today I'm going to show you how to make a spinning top from a paper clip. If you have a three year old niece or nephew, this is a trick you must learn.



You're going to need a paper clip and a pair of pliers. Also some cylindrical object is helpful, but not strictly necessary (I used a screwdriver handle). The paper clip can be any size, I used the bigger kind for demonstration, but the smaller ones work, too.



Supposedly the angle between the spokes must be 53 degrees for the center of gravity to be on the axis, but in my experience any roughly pac-man-like shape works. With a bit of tweaking you should get a top that spins for at least 30 seconds on a reasonably smooth surface.