Explaining the function of Fidget Spinners. Featuring Torque and FrictionChristopher Quizhpi VazquezAward: Top 100
School: sleepy hollow high school Fidget spinners are fascinating because they are a combination of physics and playfulness. By flicking your wrist, these fidget spinners create a whirlwind of motion and captivate us with the physics principles of torque and rotation. I took this picture of the fidget spinner by turning off the lights and taking a picture with a flash on so you can see the blur when it spins. Torque is essentially the force that accelerates the fidget spinner from rest. Rotational motion is when every particle in a body moves in a circle in a single line. When one of the fidget spinner's arms is gripped and pushed, a torque is exerted at a distance away from the center of rotation (this distance is called a lever arm). This causes the fidget spinner to rotate. The distribution of mass in the fidget spinner affects how torque is transmitted which influences its speed and rotation. The farthest parts away from the center travel the fastest because they travel the greatest circumference in the same amount of time as closer points. Humans have evolved to take advantage of this principle in how we throw a ball. When we throw a ball, we use the part of our arm (the hand) which is the farthest away from the center of rotation (the elbow). So, a ball ends up tracing a larger circular path in the same amount of time as the lower parts of the arm. 
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