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Round stones from the Nile River bed have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, which hold similar characteristics and shape to that of which we now know as the rattleback. They also display the very unique property of spin reversal that can be observed in the modern rattleback. It is evident that the Egyptians knew of these unique properties, as shown by the presence of these ancient rattlebacks in their tombs. The rattleback was first analyzed nearly a century ago, but the knowledge of the math and physics behind it was not sufficient enough to provide a complete explanation of its phenomena. It was not until the mid-1980s that the full mathematical description of the rattleback began to arise. Today, rattlebacks are manufactured from plastic and other various materials to be used mainly as toys. They can be easily obtained from scientific stores around the world. |