EXPLANATION IF ALL ELSE FAILS (hydrodynamic levitation)

There are three (groups of) forces acting on the ball.

1. The weight, downwards from its centre of gravity.

2. The absorption of momentum where the water hits the ball, resulting in an upwards force at a point
offset from the middle, but less than a radius away from from the middle. This force is larger than the
weight.

3. And last, the emission of water momentum at the edge, resulting in distributed forces pointing against
the direction of rotation, all roughly offset from the c.g. by 1 radius.

There's three degrees of freedom in the picture. Vertical, horizontal and rotation.

In vertical z direction, the mechanism is clear. The vertical component of the incoming water is larger
than that of the outgoing rays, and the difference is the weight of the ball. If the ball is perturbed
downwards, then the incoming jet hits faster and more coherent. Thus, all the water forces increase but
the weight does not, so here's a net force back up again.

Second, rotation. Let's look at torque around the c.g. The weigh by has no torque around t he c.g. The
incoming jet produces a counterclockwise torque. The outgoing rays produce a clockwise torque. This
latter torque increases as the ball rotates faster, and this brings stability around an equilibrium rotation
speed. Faster rotation causes a torque that slows rotation, and vice versa. The equilibrium speed depends
on the offset of the incoming jet - a larger offset requires faster rotation

Last, horizontal direction. This is the most complex one, and I couldn't predict that it works, without the
video. At one position relative to the jet (and at one associated rotation speed) the leftward and rightward
rays balance. If the ball is perturbed to the left, the rotation speeds up, more water is sprayed leftward,
causing a rightward restoring force.

As a bonus: equilibrium out of the drawn plane (y-axis, and rotation around the x-axis). I am not sure on
that one. The balls and disks are surprisingly stable in theze diirections too. They don't fall off the jet
sideways, and the axis of the 'hanging disk' effect doesn't precess or wobble much either. The video guy
talks about spinning tops, and he might be right. But tops do show precession in these timescales, and
changing precession. Even though tops are heavier than a styrofoam ball.