Rim weight physics

General Yo-Yo
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am i understanding correctly that it’s rim weight that increases spin time? ive been throwing just my avalanche since before 1 july started, so a bit now. its narrower, only 42 mm wide with a weight of 67 grams. when i just threw my yonami code which is wider at almost 48 mm but only weighs 62.5 g i got much less spin time with the same type bearing. the main differences between them are the width and the avalanche has way chonkier rims than the code. it has a higher overall weight but you can feel a noticeable differnce in the thickness of the rims

my understanding is that as the weight gets spread out making a yoyo wider you have to add weight to beef up the rims to keep the spin time, hence bi metal rings. so its not total weight but specifically rim weight that’s the difference. am i correct on the physics of this?

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Yes rim weight increases spin time. If you have two yo-yos basically identical except one has more rim weight, the more rim weighted one will have lower initial rpm’s and longer spin time. overall weight and diameter also matter. Width only matters in how it affects the weight distribution. I’m generalizing like there is slightly more to it than this but this is more or less the important stuff.

Here’s a link to Don Watson’s series about yoyo physics if you want to dive deeper

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very much so, thank you. I’m a “how things work” nerd

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