When a tippe top is spun at a high angular velocity, its stem slowly tilts downwards more and more until it suddenly lifts the body of the spinning top off the ground, with the stem now pointing downward.

At first glance the top's inversion may mistakenly seem to be a situation where the object spontaneously gains overall energy.

This is because the inversion of the top raises the object's center of mass, which means the potential energy has in fact increased.

It is usually assumed that the speed of the tippe top at the point of contact with the plane is zero (i.e. there is no slippage).

The unusual behavior of the top can be fully described by considering dry friction forces at the contact point.