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Vernal equinox: Keeping it in balance
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Location: Blogs Sly Comments |
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| Posted by: Emory Schley |
3/23/2007 5:51 AM |
Early this morning, we experienced the vernal equinox. I remember reading one time that it was pretty nigh impossible to balance an unboiled egg on its end unless you tried it on the vernal equinox when supposedly various “forces” in the solar system lined up to “assist” in the attempt. So, having been entrusted with such authoritative information saying it couldn’t be done, I never tried it. For years, I never tried it. I didn’t even know what the vernal equinox was, I just knew you couldn’t balance an egg on end unless it was the “official” day of the vernal equinox, whatever that was. Now I know the equinox is that time of year when the sun crosses the plane of the earth's equator, making night and day essentially equal in length all over the earth. It occurs about March 21, sometimes the 22nd. Six months from now, we'll have another equinox. The Autumnal Equinox occurs about Sept. 22.
As I got older, I found my skepticism for just about everything was growing by leaps and bounds. Then I came across a similar statement about the “impossibility” of balancing eggs in yet another printed piece. That time, I decided to put it to the test, even though it was the middle of summer. The very first egg I tried to balance on end stayed up when I carefully moved my hands away! I was so proud of myself for doing the “impossible,” I got out my camera and recorded the event for all of posterity to someday see.
Since then, from time-to-time, I attempt to duplicate the feat. Generally, I am unsuccessful. But probably about once in every 20 attempts or so, an egg will “magically” stand on its own. I’m not sure if it’s truly a random occurrence, or if it has more to do with the egg itself, but there seems to be no particular pattern to the practice, at least so far. Occasionally, when I do balance an egg, I will then pick it up to try balancing it again. Thus far, I’ve not been able to entice an egg into an encore of its performance. That leads me to believe that I may not be doing this exactly right!
I had thought that perhaps the yolk inside eggs might be attached to the albumen in a manner that made balancing most eggs on end unlikely. But occasionally, when a yolk was centered in the albumen, it would be easier to balance the egg. If so, then when you find one that balances, you should be able to make it balance repeatedly. That was my thought, but thus far, I’ve been unable to substantiate that theory in practice.
I have also considered that there might be a “sweet spot” on my counter where egg-balancing is more plausible, while several inches either way might make the task more difficult. Using a level, I was unable to find such a sweet spot.
So now, I’m at a point where I really don’t know what the answer is, and I’m running out of possible solutions. So, I will continue my quest into investigating what strange anomalies are at work here, and see if I can add some insight to the matter someday. I’ve also tried balancing first one egg, then a second, to determine if they both seem to be oriented to the same vertical angle or not, but thus far, I’ve not been able to balance a second egg on those occasions when I successfully get the first one to stand up.
This can be a frustrating practice. it really requires a lot of patience. Ahhhh. . . but investigating mysterious goings-on adds a bit of spice to Life, doesn’t it! |
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