Kit "Dancing Disk" AstroMedia

Kit AstroMedia for building the "Dancing Disk".

Kit for a large Leonhard Euler commemorative medal: complete with mirror platform on which he dances like a spinning top for a minute and a half at increasing speed.

Who doesn't? If you give a skillful push to a vertical coin, it spins and turns faster and faster until it suddenly stops with a thud. Thanks to its optimized properties, the dancing disc spins for an especially long time.

AstroMedia meets Leonhard Euler

This cardboard kit for a dancing disk is a bow to the brilliant mathematician Leonhard Euler and dedicated to his memory. It was he who first summarized the process of rotation in some mathematical formulas, the Euler Equations.

A coin that spins and spins and spins

The dancing disk is considerably larger and heavier than an ordinary coin. In addition, the side edges of the disk have been optimized so that friction losses are particularly low. Therefore it spins even longer and more impressively. Professionals can swing the disc for more than 2 minutes. The kit includes a round mirror that is slightly curved inward to help the stainless steel disc not move too far away from the center during its dance.

The principle

Push the dancing disc in a twisting motion. Because of its weight, the disc tilts a little more with each rotation, thus becoming faster and louder. Simply put, the disc gets the energy it needs for a faster and faster dance from bringing its center of gravity closer to the base surface: At first, the disc straightens and the force needed to do so is contained in the disc as potential energy ("position energy"). This is released when the disk tilts and is transformed into rotational motion energy.

Product details:

• cardboard kit for mirror edging
• 2 brass foil stickers to stick on the coin
• item dimensions:
• Disc diameter: 7.5 cm
• disc height: 1.3 cm
• disc weight: 433 g
• mirror diameter: 20 cm
• The construction time is about one hour.