Hurricane Balls: A rigid-body-motion student project

Hurricane Balls is a spinning-top toy that consists of two metal spheres that are welded (or glued) together. The motion of Hurricane Balls provides a beautiful example of rotational motion in which the angular velocity and angular momentum point in different directions. Because the motion is both captivating to students and extremely reproducible, this system is an ideal example to include in a classical mechanics course. Moreover, the excellent agreement between theory and experiment makes a detailed analysis of Hurricane Balls a perfect topic for an independent student project. This talk will give an overview of the system and will provide some tips on how to make such a project a successful student experience.