Why a spinning top won't fall to the ground?

[feynmann]

Why a spinning top won't fall to the ground?
yes I know this question must have been asked before right? tried looking for it on here but I couldn't find it.

 

[Xezlec]

Why a spinning top won't fall to the ground?
yes I know this question must have been asked before right? tried looking for it on here but I couldn't find it.

I believe it's because of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscopic_Motion" [Broken].

The following is a purely intuitive, non-technical description.

When something is rotating in one direction, and you try to rotate it in another direction, it actually tries to move in a completely different direction. So, when the top is spinning about the Z-axis, and it starts to fall over (rotate about the Y-axis), some of that rotation ends up going about the X-axis instead. Because this rotational "falling" does not all go in the same direction, it can't "add up" and fall over as easily.