Balancing an Egg

Do you know that another name for the equinox is the Vernal Equinox? It is also known as The Day When You Can Balance an Egg on End.

The equinox occurs when the Earth's position on its axis, as it moves around the Sun, places the sun directly over the Earth's equator. Day and night are of approximately equal length at 12 hours each. The theory most commonly used to explain the egg-equinox connection is that the Earth and Sun have aligned "gravitationally". And somehow the Sun's and Earth's gravitational pulls are in a delicate balance that makes eggs more stable. Apparently this derives from the notion that due to the Sun's equidistant position between the poles of the Earth at the time of the equinox, special gravitational forces apply.

Yet there is no scientific reason to suppose that such alignment exerts any special effect on solid objects here on Earth. View the following video to find out how to balance an egg at home.



Test Your Science
1. When is the right time to make an egg stand on its end?

Refer to the Young Scientists Issue 115 Level 3 on the Unbreakable Egg.