Q: I've heard that it's possible to stand a raw egg on its end on the autumnal equinox, which was this past Tuesday. Is it true? Did I miss my chance?
A: Well, yes and no. It's true, you can stand an egg on either end on the autumnal equinox, the official name for the first day of autumn. But it's also true that you can accomplish this feat every other day of the year, too.
The stories about only being able to balance an egg on the autumnal equinox - sometimes changed to the vernal equinox, the first day of spring - probably persist because of that mysterious title, equinox. The word itself comes from the Latin words for equal night, since on the equinoxes' day and night are about the same length, 12 hours.
The equinoxes are the opposite of the winter and summer solstices, which signify the start of those seasons. Solstices mark the most extreme differences between day and night, with the winter solstice having the longest night of the year, and the summer solstice the shortest night.
The reason for this unusual equality, and probably behind the egg stories, lies in the path the sun takes in the sky (or the path the earth takes around the sun, depending on your point of view).
The vernal and autumnal equinoxes are special days because they're the only times the earth's axis, about which the earth spins once a day, points exactly 90 degrees away from the sun. This causes the sun to pass directly over the earth's equator, resulting in a new season and a night about as long as the day.
So what does this have to do with balancing eggs? Well, nothing; that's the point. Apart from making some astrologers and calendar-makers happy, the two equinoxes have no effects on earth.
Some of the stories seem to suggest that the sun's location in the sky, or maybe its proximity to the planet, affect gravity minutely enough to make it easier to balance an egg, but there's no reason for that. The sun's distance doesn't change, gravity's effects don't fluctuate and eggs balance and fall at the same rate as they always do.
As proof of this, I invite you to try balancing an egg today, or next week, or sometime that isn't an equinox. It takes a steady hand and a lot of patience (more than most people have, which probably also helped fuel those stories), but given enough time, anyone can do it.
It's much harder to balance an egg on the narrower, pointy end, but it's just as possible. When attempting to balance your eggs, be careful not to accidentally crack the shell at all, since this makes it even harder to balance and creates a pretty nasty mess.
If you feel like cheating, you can try hard boiling the eggs or draining them first, since that makes the inside of the egg more consistent and thus easier to balance. Whether you balance your eggs ethically or not, the fact remains that you can do it all year round. So don't worry, you didn't miss your chance.
Have anything you'd like answered? Send questions to science@dailycardinal.com.
