system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If there was a perfectly symmetrical circular spinning top spun perfectly horizontal on a frictionless platform, would it continue forever since air resistance wouldn’t be able to “grasp” on the top since there are no deformations on it?
gpt
As long as the fluid around the top has nonzero viscosity, it will be dragged along with the top a little bit and leech energy from it. Microscopically, gas molecules scattering off of the side of the top will be preferentially scattered in the “forward” direction, along the direction of rotation of the top, and the gas as a whole would begin to rotate, taking kinetic energy and angular momentum from the top.