topping questions

When I top my plant can I stop the part I cut into another pot with soil and that will clone? I am a little confused

you'll want to take off a bit more than if you were not going to clone the top, like cut 2 or 3 nodes down instead of just the top one.

Thats the idea of how cloning works, but dumbed down a lot, it gets more complex. And yes, darkdestruction is right you'd need to cut off a larger portion than just the top node to successfully clone.

So what if I have 4 nodes can I top at the 2nd from bottom then use the part I cut as a clone

when I do that the top will grow into a plant?

Cloning is a little more complex than that. When I take my clones i generaly take the clones around the first 8-12" of the plant (because this has the majority of the auxin/hormones). The cutting must have a min of 3-4 nodes (my personal preference) for successful cloning. After the clone is cut it must be immediately put into a cup of water of something of the sort to prevent oxygen from entering the stem. The clones must be brought to the area of cloning (a table or something) for further processing. You must cut the tips of the leaves of the clones so that the clone doesn't have to work as hard to make the roots and feed the rest of the plant. After this you must cut the part of the clone where you cut it at a 45 degree angle, shave the end (up to 1/2"), and split it in the middle. Once this is completed you can then dip the clone into the rooting solution of your preference and then put than into your medium you have chosen for cloning( I have chosen these little 1" x 1" x 1" rock wool cubes). When all the clones are cut you can put them into your clone tray and then you can put your cloning dome on top of it so you can trap humidity, to speed up rooting the clone tray can be put on top of a heating mat (75-78 degrees max). To keep the clones alive and to get them to root you must spray the clones periodicity until the water drips off the leaves, every 2-3 hours (maybe more, maybe less, depending on where you live and how you go about things). And if everything goes well and you have done everything right and you follow this method, I would say you would have about a 80% success rate. Below I have posted some pics of previous clones I have done in the past ( the way I do things are a lot different now).