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Fleet Center Revels In The Science Of Toys

Physicists Wolfgang Pauli, left, and Niels Bohr demonstrating a "tippe top" toy in 1954. Tippe tops flip upside down to spin on their handle and are part of the "Secret Science of Toys" festival at the Fleet Science Center on Jan. 21.
Niels Bohr Archive, photograph by Erik Gustafson, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Margrethe Bohr Collection
Physicists Wolfgang Pauli, left, and Niels Bohr demonstrating a "tippe top" toy in 1954. Tippe tops flip upside down to spin on their handle and are part of the "Secret Science of Toys" festival at the Fleet Science Center on Jan. 21.

Fleet Center Revels In The Science Of Toys
Fleet Center Revels In the Science Of Toys GUEST: Steve Snyder, CEO, Fleet Science Center

Everyone knows that simple slinky are remarkable toys. [ music ] Why and how do they seem to walk? Other toys that spin right side up or wobble, what is the science behind the playtime activity? The Fleet science Center is putting on an exhibit Saturday on the physics behind common toys. It is called the secret science of toys. We have Steve Snyder, the CEO of the Fleet science Center. Welcome back. Thank you for having. The slinky is a classic. What is a newlywed does? Packet is a spring. It is a soft spring. What happens, when you stretch it out taken down the stairs, your extending the spring. What is what to do? It wants to clack -- claps. It creates a wave. It knocks it back down and when it hits, bounces against the edge and back again. You have an ongoing way from one end of the slinky to the other and back and forth with gravity pulling it down the stairs. Speaking of gravity, it appears to defy gravity. If you hold a slinky up and let it go to the ground, apparently the bottom of it today suspended for a while. It is a bizarre thing to see. We're going to talk about using toys in ways that you do not think about. The walk downstairs and he do amazing things. Be taken and you extended holding your hand, when you let go, you would think it would fall. Again, it is a spring. Ascension let ago comment was to contract. The bottom is being pulled up. As it is being pulled him a gravity and it appears the bottom stays in places and the whole thing altogether. What made you decide to set up a show about the science behind fun and simple kids toys? Back who doesn't love toys? There are lots of great science and on an amazing things that go on in these seemingly simple phenomena. There is a great picture of Wolfgang Pauli, Paul the six who created quantum mechanics. They are in the 60s and playing with the top. They have a look of sheer joy on their faces as they tried to figure out what is going on with this top. While they seem simple and fun, they have great science behind him. A lot of toys involved have rotating pieces. Why is rotation interesting to kids? I think it is one of the reasons that we do not spend time spinning. Spending is not something you normally see. You see car will but it is not something you are playing with. When you've got that. It is another part of physics. We are not used to the behaviors of things that spin the way we spend her life. It makes the things they do seem strange even though it is natural. It is because of this novelty, the uniqueness, it is doing something I do not expect that makes it interesting and fun. That is why spinning toys are very popular. We do not spend a lot of time spending. Maybe we should. And then fall down. Exactly. You include the waddling duck. This is not a windup toy, right? Back right. This is pure gravity. Additional action would in toy. You put this dock and it seems to waddle of its own free will down the incline. It is a fine and simple way that people have used to take busy physical phenomena and making it into something fun. Again, scientist spend a lot of time playing with things. There is a great quote that says scientist do not study the eyes because it is useful. They study science because it likes them. What is more delightful than toys? That goes to one of the things that you said. That is a main way we learn about the world is through play. Are there certain toys are especially great for curious children? I think the best toy that any kid has is a cardboard box. You remember that, right? Play is the way kids explore the world. It is the way we explore as adults. We call it science or engineering. We call it exploration. Really, it is playing with phenomena. Anytime you give the kid an opportunity or an adult an opportunity to play creatively, try something out and see something new and see what happens, that is how we learn how the world works. That is how we develop deeper understanding. We can apply to all sorts of great things. The cardboard box Lakers, it is popular because of the opportunity, what happens if I click it here? Really all it is is a block. It is a simple thing when you think about it. Look at the amazing things you can do. I have a feeling that this event, even though it is geared toward kids, a lot of adults might like to find out the fix-it of their favorite toys. I would hope so. I have an office full of toys. I have them all over my desk. They are all over the place. I love them. They are fun. Who doesn't remember the sheer joy of playing with a toy or something and reconnecting with it? And you can reconnect the with it as an adult and not just the bill in a plane but also get something more out of it. You can understand it at a deeper level. That is the wonderful thing about science, the toy works and it is: it doesn't be me but the science behind it is also beautiful and interesting to look at. There is that too much and also. This is a science Festival. What can visitors expect on Saturday and can they play with the toys? Of course. Of course you can. Of you do not play with the toys, that we quarrel that would be me. Also like plan with the slinky song and now it is stuck in your car right? [ laughter ] We have 10 different toys that we will focus on but the idea is to look at them and play with them and see how they work and have some fun and learn science. Reconnect as a child or with your childhood self or your kid, play and have fun while you learn about science. The secret science Festival takes place this Saturday in the fleet theater lobby gallery. I am speaking with Steve Snyder. Thank you so much.

Even Nobel Prize-winning physicists have a hard time resisting the urge to play with children’s toys.

At the 1954 inauguration of the Institute of Physics in Lund, Sweden, Niels Bohr and Wolfgang Pauli stooped over to show off a “tippe top,” a toy that wobbles and flips to spin on its handle instead of its base.

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The tippe top and nearly a dozen other common kids toys are part of the Fleet Science Center’s Secret Science of Toys Festival on Saturday. Visitors will get demonstrations on the physics behind Slinkys and gyroscopes among other toys, along with the chance to play themselves.

Packaging for a Slinky toy in an undated photo.
Alex Brands
Packaging for a Slinky toy in an undated photo.

Fleet CEO Steve Snyder said Slinkys, for example, appear to walk down stairs because as a giant spring, the two ends of the Slinky want to collapse back toward each other.

“What you have is this ongoing wave from one end of the Slinky to the other, back and forth, back and forth, with gravity all the time pulling it down the stairs,” Snyder said.

Many toys such as the yo-yo involve rotating pieces. That is probably because people don’t spin much in our everyday lives, according to Snyder.

“We don’t tend to pay attention to rotational motion. You spin until you get dizzy, that’s it,” he said. “It makes it interesting to us. The first way we try to understand something is to try and play with it.”

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Snyder joins KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday to explain more about the science behind Slinkys, spinning tops and other toys.