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Science is a pretty cool thing. Science vlogger and author Steve Mould has shared a video in which he explains the science of balls balancing on turntables.

As he explained, one would expect that a ball spinning around on a turn table would immediately fly off. But as he demonstrated, that’s not exactly the case.

Photo: YouTube/Steve Mould

Instead, a ball put to balance on a spinning turn table will go into a spiral itself instead of immediately falling off.

Of course, as he explained, it will eventually fall off the turn table, but it will take the ball a good while to get there as it spins around with the turntable. He explained this phenomenon as being the “Turntable Paradox.”

Photo: YouTube/Steve Mould

Mould stated, “A ball on a spinning turntable won’t fly off as you might expect. In fact, the ball will have its own little orbit that is exactly 2/7th the angular speed of the table.”

Mould shared that this all is related to three factors: the mass of the ball, its radius, and the moment of inertia.

Photo: YouTube/Steve Mould

He further explained, “Well… if you do the proper mathematical analysis, eventually an equation drops out for the orbital period of the ball…The orbital period of the ball is equal to the orbital period of the turntable, multiplied by …the mass of the ball multiplied by the radius of the ball squared divided by the moment of inertia of the ball plus one. The moment of inertia of something is just like, how hard is it to get the thing spinning.”

Check it out below:

What do you think about the Turntable Paradox? Let us know!

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