From the article: “ To see that all these equations of motion are physically possible solutions, it's helpful to use the time reversibility of Newtonian mechanics. It is possible to roll a ball up the dome in such a way that it reaches the apex in finite time and with zero energy, and stops there. By time-reversal, it is a valid solution for the ball to rest at the top for a while and then roll down in any one direction. However, the same argument applied to the usual kinds of domes (e.g., a hemisphere) fails, because a ball launched with just the right energy to reach the top and stay there would actually take infinite time to do so.”
I definitely got that part, I was thinking about just usually a linear ramp to get to the top in a certain amount of time. But I didn't think about the fact that the ball kind of has to rotate around at the top in order to be perfectly balanced so now I see why there is some nuance.
