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Re: The vernal equinox and the great egg myth



Greetings,
I was told to shake the raw egg, Place it in a supported vertical position and let the more dense material to settle to the bottom. Some time later, pick it the egg and balance it on the table. I find that it works. How about you? Dick
Helping teachers who teach, motivating students who learn.
"Science is nothing more than learning how to communicate with nature in such a manner that it will talk back."

Dick Heckathorn 14665 Pawnee Trail Middleburg Hts, OH 44130-6635 440-826-0834
Physics Teacher Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy 4687 Wyoga Lake Road Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44224 330-929-0575 VM 120


-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Freedman [SMTP:airboy@PHYSICS.UCSB.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 1:55 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: The vernal equinox and the great egg myth

Monday, March 20, 2000, is the day of the vernal equinox. On or about this
date every year, the Sun appears to pass from the southern half into the
northern half of the sky, and the Sun is directly overhead at midday as
seen from the equator. It's the first day of spring in the northern
hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the southern hemisphere.

You may have heard the following story: On the day of the vernal equinox,
and only on this day, you can stand or spin a raw egg on its end. Indeed,
every year a number of TV news programs run stories showing schoolchildren
standing eggs on end on the day of the vernal equinox.

The fact is that you can do this egg-standing trick on *any* day of the
year! The Sun's apparent position in the sky has absolutely nothing to do
with it. To learn more, and to learn how you, too, can stand raw eggs on
end on any day of the year (or, more accurately, any day when you have too
much spare time), visit the following web page:

http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/egg_spin.html

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Roger A. Freedman
Department of Physics and College of Creative Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara

Mailing address:
Department of Physics
UCSB
Santa Barbara CA 93106-9530

E-mail: airboy@physics.ucsb.edu
WWW: http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~airboy/
Voice: (805) 893-2345
FAX: (805) 893-3307

For the latest astronomy news, visit http://www.whfreeman.com/universe/
and click on "The Week in Astronomy"