Hooked on Science: Egg spinning

Materials

• Plastic egg

Instructions

• STEP 1: Place the plastic egg on its side.
• STEP 2: Quickly spin the egg and observe. Quickly spin the egg again, but apply different strengths and/or directions on the plastic egg. What happens? Why? When the egg is spinning vertically, are the forces acting on the egg balanced or unbalanced? How does this affect the motion of the egg?

Explanation

If you spin the egg fast enough, it will stand on end. The reason is the friction between the egg and the table forces the spinning egg to stand vertically.