Watch above as a simple spinning top demonstrates how neatly things can move without resistance, such as in the confines of a vacuum chamber. Or as Digg so artfully puts it: "In space, no one can watch you rule at spinning a top. But on Earth a vacuum chamber will do."
Vacuum chambers are super-controlled environments that have had all of the air and gases sucked out. This allows scientists to study how objects would behave in the vacuum of outer space, and also allows them to do some pretty beautiful demonstrations of the foundations of physics - like demonstrating that a bowling ball and a feather really do fall at exactly the same speed, or that a spinning top is woefully constrained by the realities of friction.
Created by science YouTuber mopatin, at the start of the video, the top spins clumsily in the real world, slowed down by air resistance, or drag, which means that its angular momentum decreases and eventually it succumbs to gravity.
But, then the vacuum chamber is sealed, and something beautiful happens. In the absence of friction, the top just spins and spins and spins for well over a minute. In theory, if the ground was perfectly level and the vacuum chamber was completely devoid of gases, the top could spin forever.
Watch it and get mesmerised. One thing's for sure, this trick would really f*ck with Leonardo Di Caprio's character in Inception.
Source: Digg