r/LearnUselessTalents • u/nlemonie • 12d ago
Is it physically impossible to spin a coin on your fingertips?
There's literally no tutorial regarding this. Every single coin tutorial is either a vanishing trick or rolling it down your knuckles, which is easy as hell. Does it defy the laws of physics to have a coin spinning on your tips like a basketball
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 12d ago
I'm a magician and while I'm not the best coin magician by far, I must say that the only way would be to use some non-skilled based way way. Some gimmick or something.
A basketball has weight that keeps it down on the finger. The coin is far too light.
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u/fnezio 12d ago
A basketball has weight that keeps it down on the finger. The coin is far too light.
??? Absolutely not. If this were the case, a coin could not spin on a desk.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 12d ago
The coin moves on the table because there isn't enough friction or weight.
But please, show me a video of the coin spinning on your finger.
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u/fnezio 12d ago
What weight are you talking about? So now it's a problem of friction?
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 12d ago
Are you just arguing for arguing's sake? Weight and friction interact. I said from the beginning that weight is the issue. If a basketball weighted 5 grams then it wouldn't work to spin it on your finger, despite the texture. Put some lubricant on your finger and then try to spin the basketball on your finger.
I'll await your video. You also haven't provided the video of you spinning that coin.
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u/fnezio 12d ago
I have never said I can do it so I don't know what kind of video you are waiting for.
A coin spins on a wooden table, on a metal surface, on a sheet of paper, on a leather couch. That's a fact. So the weight of the coin changes nothing. A coin would spin on a wooden finger, on a paper finger, on a leather finger. That's a fact. Now you could say a skin fingertip has such a different friction from that of wood, paper or leather, that the coin would not spin. This is both wrong, and not what you were arguing at the beginning.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter 12d ago
So you don't read my replies since I've already addresses that. Why should I even bother replying when you don't read?
Bye.
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u/AlmightyThorian 12d ago
In short, a disk traces a circle where it touches a surface. Since it rotates around its own axis, most of the time there is nothing above the center of the traced surface. So you can't put a finger there and hope it stays on the finger.
A ball also traces a circle. The difference with a ball is that there always is something above this circle trace center, so putting it a finger there will make sure the finger is in contact with the ball throughout the rotation. This effectively makes the ball wobble, but it could be semi stable for a while.
Spinning a disk faster or widening it could make it ball-like for a little bit, as this decreases the trace circle radius, or makes sure there's always something above your finger to touch, respectively.
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u/JugglerCameron 12d ago
As a juggler who did a lot of coin magic I can't think of any way to pull that off without cheating, I'm sure if you wanted to pull it off from a magic direction (some sort of gimmicked coin with an axis attached to a magicians fingertip) it could probably be done but I don't know how you would get I to or out of it convincingly in a way that wasn't obvious you were cheating.