March 20, 2009

I'm About to Blind You With Science

Two years ago Mike and I were discussing the first day of spring when his dad casually mentioned you can stand an egg upright on the Vernal Equinox. We didn't know if this meant all day or for a window of time or what so we Googled it. It turns out that the Vernal Equinox is at a specific time on the first day of spring and at that time, you can stand an egg upright without the help of some support. That year it was around 8pm. Mike and I had plans to go out to dinner but brought an egg with us so as not to miss it. Strange, I know but how were we going to pass this up? Even for Mexican food? When it was time to try it, we were prepared. The egg didn't stand up for a good few minutes and I was totally bummed. We figured there was no way the eastern seaboard would have the same time across the board so I kept trying and voila! The egg stood until we had to leave. (For the record, no one in the restaurant noticed.) Last year the time was in the middle of the night so we didn't do it but this year was at 7:44am! I was all alone, sigh, but I did it anyway. Like the last time, it didn't work right away. But after some perserverence, here's what Fluffy and I discovered:

Happy first day of spring!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

umm...
read the second bullet.
and try it again another day!
(my students were asking about this.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox#Myths.2C_fables_and_facts