In the run-up to Christmas, people across the world shared videos of themselves signing the popular song ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ in different sign-languages and it was absolutely beautiful. A day after the festival, during the annular solar eclipse, Malaysian and Indonesian social media users uploaded videos of a fun science experiment.
Hindustan Times reports that these videos are based on a popular theory that an egg can stand on its narrow end during a solar eclipse because of increased gravity.
Hakeem Maarof ಅವರಿಂದ ಈ ದಿನದಂದು ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಿದೆ ಬುಧವಾರ, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ 25, 2019
Take a look at how a Kuala Lumpur-based father named Hakeem Maarof tried it out for his two kids.
Jaga2 telur bole tegak time gerhana ni
Hakeem Maarof ಅವರಿಂದ ಈ ದಿನದಂದು ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ ಮಾಡಲಾಗಿದೆ ಬುಧವಾರ, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ 25, 2019
Here are other Twitter users giving it a shot.
I’m glad that I can watch it today #solareclipse2019. Such a waste if you didn’t try standing the egg ? while the solar eclipse happen.
Gua punya telur berdiri bhai pic.twitter.com/AmkYUL7mlb
— Mat Serah (@MaMoZa7) December 26, 2019
Scientist kata telur boleh berdiri kalau gerhana sbb tarikan graviti kuat pic.twitter.com/n8eklt10mX
— saraimani (@saranurimani) December 26, 2019
In all of these videos, the eggs seem to pass the test but does the theory actually hold water?
News18 quoted Chong Hon Yew, a retired physicist of Malaysian Science University saying, “You can do the same experiment tomorrow, before or after the eclipse – it’s easy to do it. But it’s a fun trick to do while the eclipse is happening to engage young kids in science and astronomy.”
So, even though it is a fun experiment, there is no scientific evidence to prove that it is possible only during a solar eclipse.