Spring equinox will be celebrated on March 19. In the old days, yesterday was only the Spring Equinox of sorts. This story has been repeatedly debunked, but I figured I’d give it a shot myself–making sure not to try it on any of the afore-mentioned magical days–when it should be utterly impossible because Unspecified Reasons. By standing up your broom today during the Spring Equinox, you will feel like a champ. For more on this phenomenon, see my Skeptical Inquiree column “Egging the Equator” in the July/August 2016 issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. The same is of course true for balancing a broom or anything else if you are convinced it can only happen one day a year, you are unlikely to try at other times of the year (and realize it works then as well). If you believe that eggs won’t balance on other days, this belief is transmitted subconsciously to your hands. What is the actual meaning of the spring equinox The. If you are convinced that an egg will balance more easily on a certain day you will try a little harder, be more patient, and use steadier hands. It all comes down to the broom having a lower center of gravity that allows to stand on its bristles when placed like a tripod. Martin Gardner, writing in the May/June 1996 Skeptical Inquirer about the myth that egg balancing can only be done on the first day of Spring (a tradition he traces back to ancient China) explains that “Such self-deception is not hard to understand. The British tabloid The Daily Mirror–a reliable source for unreliable, sensationalized information since 1903–offered a story about goofy beliefs about the equinox including that eggs and brooms can be balanced on that day.įor many it does indeed work, though there’s no scientific reason why it should only work on that day. YouTube videos can be found of many people trying this quirk for themselves, mostly successfully (videos showing the trick not working are of course less popular and interesting). #WINNING are just past the 2017 summer solstice (June 20 and 21 were the longest days of the year for anyone living north of the equator), and amid the celebrations, pagan rituals, and Stonehenge treks, there were many who performed a trick seemingly unique to that day.Īccording to some, eggs and brooms can somehow be balanced on their ends on that day (and/or on the vernal equinox, when day and night length are about the same and/or on the first day of Spring, take your pick). This works today, tomorrow, or any day of year. Brooms center of mass is at base where the bristles are. #BroomChallenge /i9UovaMgVnīrooms standing on their own are cool! It's not because of NASA or Earth's rotation, or tilt of earth or vernal equinox.

Pajama broom challenge 😂 What are you doing on a Monday Night?! #broomchallenge /1DU7q9bZp4 While we’re sure NASA is bristling at the idea of people getting the science wrong, it still makes for a fun party trick. Which means, if you can get the bristles positioned like a tripod, your broom will stand upright any day of the year. The center of gravity is low on a broom, and rests directly over the bristles. Instead, it has everything to do with balance. It also has nothing to do with the vernal equinox (another day of the year when this “magic” supposedly happens). It has nothing to do with the earth’s gravitational pull on a certain day. Fun, right? Right.īut the truth is, you can make a broom stand upright today… and tomorrow and the day after… and the day after that. But as with many things on the internet, people ran with it. We couldn’t find anything from NASA to support the tweet. Surely, by now you’ve seen the latest craze … um, sweeping the internet. Your friends are likely posting videos and pictures showing how they can make brooms stand up all by themselves.Ī viral tweet suggests that NASA said Monday was the only day the “standing broom” trick would work, because of the earth’s gravitational pull. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.

Broom standing up equinox