You can stand an egg up on end today! PLEASE READ

[shemarie]

Well, my brood is still in bed...lazy bums...so I am sure as soon as they are up, down it will go. What part of Missouri are you from. My husband has family in Rolla.

 

[cockadoodlemom]

I have been trying but no luck. Cool pictures! cant wait to show my kids!

 

[crazy4daisy]

Thank you SOOOOO much southern chick!!!!!!!!

Shemarie - I'm from west-central Missouri.

 

[Llysse]

Sorry to burst everyone's bubbles (or... uh, eggs...), but eggs can be balanced on their ends at any time of year, not just the Spring Equinox. Here's Snopes on the egg balancing:

http://www.snopes.com/science/equinox.asp

 

[merryreader]

Well, I S T I L L believe!! Merry

 

[crazy4daisy]

Quote:
Heh heh, me too!!!!!!!!

I have actually tried at another time during the year for 30 minutes and have never been able to do it unless it's the spring or fall equinox.

 

[soonerdog]

He he he he........I got one out of five to do it!!!! I first thought this was a bunch of bull.....but it works!

Gonna let it stay to show my wife when she gets home from work. Johnny

 

[chickbea]

Does it make a difference if it is a freshly laid egg or not?

 

[Llysse]

Freshness is not mentioned here (http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/egg_spin.html), but he does offer a few tips:



"I have also found that warm ones are easier to stand up as well, though I am not sure why. I originally thought that it might be because the liquid inside the egg thins out as it warms up, allowing the yolk can settle down farther. However, that turns out not to be the case. I chatted with Dr. David Swayne, who is a poultry veterinarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He told me that the thickness of the albumen (the "white" part of the egg) does not depend on temperature. After all, the job of the albumen is to protect the yolk, and if it got thin when warm it wouldn't perform as well. So the mystery remains. I wonder: it takes time for an egg to warm up, and during that time I am trying to balance it. The more I try, the better I get! So I get better with time, and the egg warms with time. Maybe it's simply time that's important, and not temperature.

"I mentioned above that I had a working theory about the bumps on the bottom of the egg acting as stool legs. The past tense is important! I recently received an email from Lisa Vincent, who teaches at the Mancelona Middle School in Mancelona, Michigan. She and her class decided to test the egg-myth for themselves, and had her students try it on October 16, 1999 (coincidentally, almost exactly a year after the images above were taken).

"Mancelona students standing up eggs Not only did they get eggs to balance, but they got them to balance on their short ends! This is a feat I have never been able to reproduce. For proof, they sent me images of their eggs, which I present here. Note that the eggs are indeed standing on their short ends. Incidentally, Ms. Vincent told me the eggs remained standing for over a month. Usually a random vibration would knock an egg over, but in the image it looks to me like they were standing on a standard high school chemistry class work table and sink, which are designed to be very sturdy. That was a good choice!

"The beauty of the Mancelona kids' work is that they showed me what science means: sometimes you have to abandon a theory when a better one comes along. I thought an egg could only balance on its fat end (the narrow end usually is much smoother, making it harder to balance), but they proved me wrong. Since I knew it could be done, I kept at it, and now I am happy (and oddly proud) to say that I have indeed managed to get an egg to stand on its narrow end. "



You can see the photos by clicking on the link.

 

[Llysse]

Another tip from here (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_089.html) suggests they stand easier when they are shaken first. You should scroll down to the bottom of the page for an explanation as to why this should help.