So March 20 at 05:48 UT (11:48 p.m. tonight my local time) the center of the Sun will appear to be directly over the celestial equator, and it will be the moment of the Vernal Equinox.
Every year I get people asking me about my egg-standing technique, which I have honed over years of practice. I decided to make a video tutorial so that you, my BABloggee, can reproduce (haha! get it? It’s an egg!) this experience for yourself.
So get cracking.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I kill me.
Update: Right after I posted this, Universe Today put up a post on it as well!
March 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hi, Phil:
Think the balance has anything to do with the yolk inside? Perhaps all the maneuvering settles the yolk closer to the bottom of the egg, lowering the center of gravity and making the egg heavier on the downside (I’m assuming you put the wider end down).
Will. M
March 19th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
HA! Phil add comedian to your resume!
March 19th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
BTW I have another video on this topic; it’s from a local TV news show I did many years ago in California.
March 19th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
You crack me up Phil. Egg-traordinary.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Gotta try that tonight
but what does your shirt say??
jb
March 19th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
That is SO cool!!! Thanks for posting that Phil I’m gonna try that tonight. You seem like such a cool guy. Do you believe in that 2012 stuff by the way? Thanks for posting stuff like this Phil it’s really neat!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I look forward to a whole albumen of your comedy; yolks like these are bound to get you laid. Seriously, this is a shell of a good video; I just hope no one poaches it and takes credit.
…oh, God. I’m sorry.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
@jabe: That shirt was the first thing I noticed! XD It’s his Penny Arcade “Wil [Wheaton] says: ‘Don’t be a dick.’” T-shirt. (I hope it okay for me to use that phrase here, BA.)
March 19th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Here is a closeup picture of the shirt, showing how hawesome it is.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hey, there are a lot of eggs missing from that carton! Were they sacrificied to the BA gods in the name of science? Or just breakfast?
March 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Haha, loved seeing the shirt. Now Wil Wheaton needs some kind of Phil Plait-themed shirt to wear, and the circle of mancrush will be complete.
Ever thought about making some kind of yearly egg-standing event slightly outside of the Vernal Equinox to help promote critical thinking of bad science? If you make that happen, sign me up!
March 19th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Oh yeah, sure! I’ll bet you filmed that last year on the vernal equinox and you’ve been saving it until now.
Oh wait. That T-shirt didn’t exist last year…
March 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Wow you actually did balance it…
I was sure you were just spinning them in the pictures to get them to stand.
That’s much easier, but is indeed cheating. Just set an egg down as you normally would, and then spin it nice and fast. It will stand itself up on the thick end on its own.
March 19th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Inspired by the BA, I addressed this matter while making breakfast one morning, and included the results on my flickr page.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wmgobuffs/2177603585/
March 19th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
[...] Astronomy Blog’s How to stand an egg on end is an example of what I said earlier about providing a video. You as a reader don’t even have [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I’ll be impressed when you balance it on the other end.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
^ different Stephens btw
March 19th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
That’s all fine and dandy… but how do you balance Phil Plait on his egghead?
March 19th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Eggcelent, Phil. You always make me chuckle with videos like these.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Oh it’s that time of the year again…
Well it’s like that “Pull my finger” trick, it never gets old.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Q: Is it possible to stand an egg on its end during the equinox?
A: Yes.*
* – It’s possible to do so on the equinox, because it’s possible to do so any time.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
AJ Hawks says: “I was sure you were just spinning them in the pictures to get them to stand. That’s much easier, but is indeed cheating. Just set an egg down as you normally would, and then spin it nice and fast. It will stand itself up on the thick end on its own.”
Apparently you’ve never actually tried this. Go ahead, I’ll wait until you get back.
[dum de dummdadumm...]
OK, didn’t work, did it? The liquid inside the egg doesn’t spin up with the shell and damps out the spin immediately. That is, of course, if the egg isn’t hard boiled.
It’s an old egglofter judge trick to make sure the egg is raw before and after you fly it.
- Jack
March 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Ge, thanks Phil, you’ve just given me my lesson plan for Earth Science tomorrow. It’s the last day before Spring Break where I teach, and I just gave a test today (to avoid doing anything heavy on the last day before break.)
So I’ll show your video, give the kids eggs to balance, and make them come up with a scientific experiment to see if the equinox really has anything to do with it.
And pray I don’t have too much mess to clean up
March 19th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I have a picture where I made an egg stand up in January 2006…
…I got it after only a couple tries. I never could reproduce the deed. ._.
March 19th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Egg-cellent vid.
I did not just say that. >_>
March 19th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Lol nice video Comedian Bad Astronomer *refrains from egg related words*
March 19th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I believe it’s been done before:
http://www.starframers.com/catalog/501748.jpg
March 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
With a little help from Phil’s magical vibes …
March 19th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
damnit. here: http://www.newskinmedia.com/uploads/egg.jpg
March 19th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Thanks so much for reminding me of the egg thing, Phil. I’d totally forgotten that my dad used to tell us kids about the egg-balancing-on-the-vernal-equinox thing, and we totally believed him. Since becoming an adult, and actually thinking about what the vernal equinox is, and what’s going on, i’ve known this was bogus. But, I thank you for reminding me of some great childhood memories.
In dedication, I balanced a couple eggs tonight as well. Funnily enough, I used the same method as you did in your video above. Any other way never even crossed my mind. The fact that someone would try to balance an egg with one finger on top just seems retarded.
March 19th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Oops… Pic:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3007/2346758870_00a0d9a61f_b.jpg
March 19th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Mel, you did it much better than Phil. Your hotness rating is much higher. Maybe it’s Phil’s bald head…
March 19th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Phil, I’m confused. My calendar says that the Vernal Equinox is 12:48am on March 20th. I remember that the first days of spring, summer, fall, and winter usually fall on the 20th-22nd of the months they are on. I have never seen a first day of falling on day before the 20th or after the 22nd.
Is my calendar incorrect here? Is there a site that shows the absolute correct times and dates for these events? I’m just checking here.
Thanks
March 19th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Sorry, I was distracted by my wife when I heard you state the date and didn’t notice that you had the actual time and date written in the post. ( I was watching the YouTube video. I see that you have the exact time and date that I do. For some reason I thought I heard you say the 18th.
Ah well, nothing like making myself look bad. (At least I didn’t post a rant on my website about it.
)
Thanks for all the great info you publish here. It’s really interesting stuff!
March 19th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Anybody got any crazy glue.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
I find the concretions make it a little MORE difficult to get the eggs to stand up….for me, they’ve oftentimes been too varied in their size and positioning that it makes it way more tricky. I perfer the smooth eggs for balancing, myself.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Ken:
>>Q: Is it possible to stand an egg on its end during the equinox?
>>A: Yes.*
You’d be amazed how many times I’ve been asked by Americans:
“Do you have July 4th in Canada?”
It’s the same kind of question, and elicits the same [long sigh] response.
March 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
My pics from the fall…
March 19th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
My pics from the fall did not come out as inline images… ok then…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/dcowan38/board_posts/eq1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/dcowan38/board_posts/eq2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/dcowan38/board_posts/eq3.jpg
March 19th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[...] How to stand an egg on end [...]
March 19th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Is it possible to stand an egg on the small end? Even marginally theoretically possible?
March 19th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Happy spring!
March 20th, 2008 at 4:46 am
First time I hear that myth….
Too bad that there are no eggs at the office. I have to wait till I’m home.
March 20th, 2008 at 4:51 am
autumn:
Yes, it’s just a bit harder to do because of the weight distribution.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Good Morning I have always tried to balance the egg on Equinox without success. This morning at 5:55 am CT I took an egg and after only a few tries I removed my hand and the egg stood on its own!It was a smooth formica surface. It stood there for a good 20 minutes. After I knocked it over I checked it, no egg white leak or countertop imperfections. I felt like I just discovered gravity! I happened apon this site later and watched the video, well I took less time to balance mine (! smile) and used just one hand but I just had to comment! Very exciting after all these years. Thanks for the video but I’m sure Equinox had something to do with it and maybe Leap Year, ok maybe not!!!
Have a wonderful spring!
March 20th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Saw a guy on youtube… He claims that there’s a 5 days window around the equinox. On any other day , it “doesn’t feel the same” and he claims you can only balance it on non-equinox days because of the bumps.
…some folks just don’t wanna be convinced…
March 20th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
But, the question is… is it easier to do this on or near the equinox?
March 20th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
[...] honor of the vernal equinox and Easter, learn how to stand an egg on end any time of year. It just takes patience and a steady hand, so says Phil Plait over at the [...]
March 20th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I really, really gave it the Old College try, but something went horribly wrong…
http://starbirdcanada.wordpress.com/2008/03/20/egg-balancing/
March 20th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
But, the question is… is it easier to do this on or near the equinox?
And the answer is… no.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
“Is it possible to stand an egg on the small end? Even marginally theoretically possible?”
One of my students was so good at it, he was able to balance several eggs on their small ends. One was left on the table for the entire day. I took it down only because I didn’t want to come back into my classroom after spring break with a rotten egg smell permeating the room.