Hooked on science: Egg dilemma

Here's an eggcellent experiment that will teach you how to tell the difference between an uncooked egg and a hard-boiled egg.

Ingredients

• 1 uncooked egg
• 1 hard-boiled egg (have an adult help with this)

Instructions

• STEP 1: Spin the uncooked egg and observe what happens.
• STEP 2: Spin the hard-boiled egg and observe what happens.

Explanation

You will notice that one egg spins and one egg wobbles. The egg that spins is the hard-boiled egg and the one that wobbles is the uncooked egg. The hard-boiled egg continues to spin because it is a solid. The contents in the raw egg cause it to move slowly. This is because of inertia, which is the tendency of an object to continue at rest or in motion.

Jason Lindsey is a Science Outreach Educator for the Bootheel Youth Museum. Check out his science blog Hooked On Science at jasonthescienceguysblog.blogspot.com for webcasts and experiments that might get you hooked on science. Send him you science questions at jlindsey@bootheelyouthmuseum.org. More science experiments can be found at www.semissourian.com.