Balance an Egg
Ever wanted to balance an egg? This article will show you various ways to pull of this trick and ease your boredom.
Contents
Steps
Salt and a hard surface
- Make a small mound of salt on a hard, smooth, level surface.
- 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 in balancing the egg on its end. The egg is supported by unseen salt crystals that are held under the egg and this allows the egg to balance on its end effectively.
Balancing an egg on a light bulb
Balance an egg on a light bulb. The crowd will be astounded.
- Get one egg and one light bulb inserted into its lamp stand.
- Don't be an egghead––only do this with a cold light bulb. Remove the cord from the switch panel before trying this trick.
- Wet the tip of the egg.
- Rub salt on the wet tip.
- Balance the egg. The egg will be happy to stay balance on the light bulb.
- If it doesn't work, persevere; you might not be doing it correctly.
Equinox egg balancing
- Try to balance and egg without the salt around an equinox. You can do it about March 20, on the spring equinox, or about September 23, on the autumn equinox. Some people believe that the gravitational pull of the Sun that occurs on the equinoxes can help keep an egg standing on its end. Not surprisingly, those people are wrong. You can balance an egg equally well on any day of the year. However, this makes for a good yarn and a chance to explain scientific methodology over superstition.
- Carefully balance the egg on a hard smooth surface. If it doesn't balance, then you can try another method.
Rough, textured surface balancing
- You could try balancing an egg by simply placing the egg on a rough textured surface or repeatedly using of an egg which will eventually lead to the ends of the egg becoming cracked or flattened.
Columbus method
- Another famous way for making an egg stand on end is the Columbus method. There is a popular story of how Christopher Columbus, having been told that discovering the Americas was no great accomplishment, challenged his critics to make an egg stand on its tip; and, after they gave up, he did it himself by tapping the egg on the table so as to flatten its tip. This may ruin your egg a bit, though. Once again, it's a good yarn.
Li Chun and a smooth surface
- A Chinese folk belief that it is much easier to balance an egg on a smooth surface during Li Chun (the official first day of spring in the Chinese lunar calendar, which usually falls on February 4 or 5), than at any other time of the year.
- You can, with time and patience, supposedly balance an egg on a smooth surface.
- To quote Wikipedia, "Japanese physicist Ukichiro Nakaya verified experimentally that eggs in fact can be balanced with ease at any time of the year. He noticed that the shell of an egg usually has many small bumps and dimples, so that, by turning the egg in different directions, it can be made to touch a flat surface on three points at once, in many ways." That may help you with this method.
Tips
- Practice makes perfect!
- You may not want to try this trick if you have butterfingers or unsteady hands.
Warnings
- Use common sense. Be careful not to get salt or eggshells in your eyes.
