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Discrepant Event-The Rattleback
A rattleback, also known as an
"anagyre", "celt", "Celtic stone",
"rattlerock", "spin bar", "wobble stone"
or "wobblestone" and by the product names "ARK,"
"Bizzaro Swirls,"
"RATTLEBACKS," "Space Pet" and "Space
Toy," is a semi-ellipsoidal top which will spin on its axis in a
preferred direction. But, if spun in the opposite direction, it becomes
unstable, "rattles", stops and reverses its spin to the
preferred direction. This spin-reversal motion seems, at first sight, to
violate the angular-momentum conservation law of physics. Moreover, for
most rattlebacks, the motion will happen when the rattleback is spun in
one direction, but not when spun in the other. These two peculiarities
make the rattleback a physical curiosity that has excited human
imagination since prehistorical times.
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