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Eggs-Periments: Balancing Egg

Balancing Eggs-Periment

 

First get permission to use kitchen equipment and eggs.

YOU WILL NEED

  • One raw egg
  • Salt

HERE’S HOW

  1. Take the raw egg and try to balance it on a hard surface (you will have a difficult time keeping the egg balanced).
  2. Now, make a tiny mound of salt on a hard, smooth surface.
  3. Very carefully balance the egg on top of the salt, then gently blow the excess salt away. With patience and a steady hand, you should succeed.

Note: Try this experiment without the salt on the spring equinox, or on the autumn equinox. During the equinoxes the sun appears directly overhead at the Equator, and the length of night and day are nearly equal worldwide. Carefully balance the egg on a hard smooth surface. If it doesn't balance, then try the experiment with some salt.


 WHY?

Some people believe that the gravitational pull of the sun that occurs on the equinoxes can help keep an egg standing on its end. This idea is unproven, but it's interesting to test it. Another way to stand an egg up—on any day—is to use salt.

The salt crystals are almost perfect cubes, and they help form a pedestal that supports the egg.


Text by Julie Vosburgh Agnone

Illustration by David Bamundo
Illustration: a boy and girl look at an egg

 

 

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