These Eggs Can Breakdance!

What do you need?

You will need a hard-boiled egg or you may try this with a special type of spinning top (as shown in the picture below).

What to do?

First, get a hard-boiled egg. Lay the hard-boiled egg on its side on a table or a smooth, flat surface. Spin the egg as fast as you can.  Observe what happens. Try again and repeat with the special spinning top, if you have one. 

What happens?

Can you believe it? It inverts itself halfway & spins upside down! 

This is because of the friction between the eggshell and the tabletop which pushes the spinning egg up. But this only happens if you spin the egg fast enough!

While it spins, the egg appears to defy gravity.

Watch this video!

Friction destabilizes the egg’s spin and causes it to shift position. Some of the kinetic energy (KE) of the egg’s spin is converted to potential energy (PE).  When standing on end, the egg has more potential energy and less kinetic energy (for a few seconds).

Shared by Azni

Learning Specialist, Petrosains