There is a question concerning the Physics of a small child's tall that has been bothering me for some time now. I have investigated this to a small degree, but I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer and I believe the resulting answer must be of an elementary nature.
My newborn son has a small plastic toy that is an ellipsoid filled with small, plastic balls (approximately 10-15 balls). The ellipsoid can be revolved around an axis of revolution (the axis of revolution is the major axis of the planar ellipse) and when one spins the ellipsoid, the small, plastic balls find there way (almost immediately) to the plane that is perpendicular to the axis of revolution and contains the minor axis of the planar ellipse where they continue to spin in said plane as long as their speed is sufficiently large.
In the image, the red curve is a metal rod (elephant's arms) that keep the ellipsoid in suspension, the green line is the axis of revolution, and the blue curve is the curve that the small, plastic, balls move to (almost immediately) and rotate along as long as the speed is sufficiently fast enough.
Is there an elementary explanation (elementary = 2 undergraduate courses in Physics) for what I am observing? I am also interested in any explanation of what I am observing that would lead me to learning something new.