Surprise your friends and family with an easy science experiment that answers a tricky question. Two eggs look and feel the same, but there is a big difference– one is raw and the other, hard boiled. Find out which is which with this fun experiment.
Two eggs, one hard boiled and one raw. Make sure the hard boiled egg has been in the fridge long enough to be of the same temperature as the raw egg.
Spin the eggs and watch what happens– one egg should spin while the other wobbles.
You can also lightly touch each of the eggs while they are spinning. One should stop quickly while the other keeps moving after you have touched it.
The raw egg’s centre of gravity changes as the white and yolk move around inside the shell, causing the wobbling motion. Even after you touch the shell, it continues moving. This is because of inertia. The same type of force is felt when you change direction or stop suddenly in a car, your body wants to move one way while the car wants to do something different. Inertia causes the raw egg to spin even after you have stopped it. This contrasts with the solid white and yolk of the hard boiled egg, it responds much quicker if you touch it.
This is a good experiment to test a friend or someone in your family, and see if they can figure out the difference between the two eggs (without smashing them, of course) before showing them your nifty trick.
