A Cambridge University student and spinning top hobbyist used physics and precision engineering to design a ‘next-level’ fidget spinner and set a new Guinness World Record for the longest ever spin.

James Goh, 23 – whose fascination with gyroscopes began when he saw the iconic spinning top in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 sci-fi film Inception – spun the device for 30 minutes 34.54 seconds, almost five minutes longer than the previous record for ‘the longest duration spinning a fidget spinner on one finger’, and around 20 times longer than a standard spinner bought in a shop.

He said: “This has been a hobby of mine since I was a kid, so I’m delighted to get the record – although my finger did ache a little bit after holding it in the same position for so long. I suppose in a way I’ve taken the fidget out of fidget spinning!”

As part of their degree, Cambridge engineering students study the physics of gyroscopes, which are critical components used in everything from smart phones to spacecraft navigation systems. And so James has been able to draw on his learning, specifically in aerodynamics, and tribology – the science of friction – to boost his hobby.

The Queens’ College student – who has also engineered spinning tops which spin for almost two hours, and has his sights set on more Guinness World Records – was at school when fidget spinners took the planet by storm in 2017, and when he first challenged himself to create the ultimate spinner.

“Like most kids my age, I loved fidget spinners and was swept up in the craze back then,” he said. “I probably spent more money than I should have buying them, and I always thought, ‘one day I’ll do this myself, but I’ll do it better…’”

James’ passion for fidget spinners – which are designed to spin with little effort, and are marketed as relieving stress – grew out of his original interest in designing spinning tops, which share many of the same scientific principles.

“Inception was a big inspiration – when I saw the spinning top something clicked with me; I started looking into the physics of tops and I never really stopped. The top in the film is visually iconic, but from an engineering perspective it’s actually a bad design!”

His hobby even led him to ask for a metal-working lathe for Christmas, which he kept in his bedroom.

“People do often ask me why I'm so interested in spinning tops and fidget spinners. There’s definitely something hypnotic about them, and their mechanical efficiency is pretty remarkable. I also think it’s got a lot to do with being competitive; it’s a very interesting optimisation problem because the goal keeps shifting. There are always new materials or techniques to use to tweak the design – there are always improvements that can be made.”

James – who is currently studying on the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos, an option for the final two years of a Cambridge Engineering degree – used academic papers to inform his experiments and help figure out the Guinness World Record-breaking formula. He originally devised his formula for spinning tops, but then used it to engineer his ‘Pulsar' fidget spinner and set the new record. As far as he is aware, the formula did not previously exist.

“It involves a lot of data collection to come up with 3D models, which I then make in the workshop. Differential equations have helped me a lot to refine the formula, although there is no actual analytical solution, because technically it’s unsolvable. There’s no magical, optimal spinning time, but you can get close to it.”

The core of James’s Pulsar spinner is made from lightweight hollow aluminium, while tungsten – an extremely dense metal – is concentrated around the edges to store kinetic energy. It means all the weight is on the outside – creating a ‘high moment of inertia’ – and helping it spin for longer.

He said: “Designing a spinner is basically about three things: maximising the energy you start with, minimising the energy you end with, and transitioning between those two states as slowly as possible, so you’re losing energy as slowly as possible. The tricky thing is that these factors are all in conflict with each other, and in a really complicated way.”

As well as being high performance, James’ tops and fidget spinners – which he promotes on his HiPer Tops platform – are aesthetically striking, with the finished products often resembling objets d’art. However, according to James, this is more of a happy accident.

“I do get a lot of nice comments about how they look, but it’s a by-product of the engineering, really. Polishing them helps with aerodynamics, but I’m much more focused on function than form. Form is a small consideration.”