SPIN REVERSAL SIMULATIONS ON A ROLLING MARBLE

It is known from experience that a piece of boat-shaped marble can som etimes display a strong preference in spin direction. When spun opposi te to its preference, the spin can quickly turn into rattling. Even mo re interesting is the fact that the marble may produce multiple spin r eversals following the rattling, until the energy is completely dissip ated. So far, several theoretical models exist, but none completely ma tches all the qualitative features of the motions or fully explains th e mechanism. The numerical simulations in this paper serve to fill the gap of previous studies.