Why Are Eggs, Brooms and Mops Standing On End?

All over facebook, I've been seeing friends posting pictures of their brooms and eggs standing straight up by themselves for the past few days. The claims have all had similar reasoning, that due to the Equinox, planetary alignment and/or gravitational pull, these common household objects have a "magical power" to do so.

I'm generally fairly skeptical, but this time, like my friends before me, I didn't go check the actual facts first. Nope, I got out an egg and the broom! It didn't work for me as I didn't have the patience to make it happen. My mother, however, was able to get a raw egg to stand on a phonebook on the floor for several minutes. It was only knocked over when the cat and dog had to go investigate. The broom stood for just over two hours before falling. Pretty cool, right? We even took pictures to prove it worked. We weren't the only ones in awe at this awesome trick, either.

Dave C. says, "I stood it up and it stayed up 8 hours until it was moved. Even pretty good angle broom pics on my profile. It took maybe 45 seconds to balance it."

Steve H. told me that his broom stood up until one of his sons knocked it down.

Lauren B. stated, "I did the broom and it took seconds to get it to stand. My dog even walked by and touched it and it didn't fall!"

When I posted the picture of OUR egg standing on end, Madison J. weighed in, saying, "We had to do that with an egg in biology class. It never gets old!"

That's when I began doubting the reasoning for why we were able to accomplish these seemingly impossible feats, but it took Jessica P.'s comment on her own picture of a broom standing before I started doing research, "It's really that the broom has a low center of gravity. I know the whole equinox thing is a myth. I just wanted to try it. I was thinking of freaking the kids out with [the egg] one next."

Hold the phone! It's a myth?? But it worked so well, with just a little patience!

So, I turned to my best friend. My internet best friend, that is. And I Googled it.

The first thing that came up was a similar version of the same myth, three years ago. 

"Today the planets are aligned. One of my co-workers told me since this is so, you can stand a broom upright all by itself. No one believed her. She found a broom and put it in front of us and it stood all by itself without falling over. I guess my actual questions are these; have any of you actually heard of this before, have you done it, and why would this work because of the planets being aligned if this is really the reason why this is occurring? Thanks."

I saw other postings, all similar, some more recent than others, but they all mentioned the Equinox. The Spring Equinox is not until March 20th, and today is March 8th. (There are two every year - the Fall Equinox is September 22nd.) Equinox is derived from the Latin word meaning "equal night" and simply means that those two days will each have approximately twelve hours of day and twelve hours of night. Tradition states that Spring begins with the March Equinox - some cultures celebrate the onset of Spring in various ways, and that brings us to why we're also trying to balance eggs in addition to brooms.

Eggs are the most basic, literal and obvious symbols of fertility. Spring is a time of rebirth, and therefore, eggs tend to be used in celebration. According to Chinese legend, if this symbol of fertility could be balanced on end during a day equally divided between day and night, it would be a sign that all nature was in harmony. That's a lovely thought, but now, where do brooms come in? It would appear that brooms - but not hot dogs, pencils or lollipops - have become an online fad to coincide with this Chinese legend.

On a side note, my head is spinning just a bit, because I currently have a broom that's been standing in my kitchen for over an hour - for the second time today. It looks so strange.

So, now that we know WHY we're trying to stand brooms, mops and eggs on end.. The question is, what does that have to do with the planets?

According to a KMOV viewer, it is "because of the axis with the earth tonight if you take a broom and point it exactly south it will stand by itself. This will never happen again in our lifetime. Only happening till midnight. I took this picture tonight 3/5/2012." That picture was of a broom standing straight up - without any aid - in the viewer's kitchen. I hate do it, but I'm about to burst that bubble.

Late in February, Jupiter and Venus, the brightest visible plants from Earth, were clearly visible for those that did not have overcast skies. NASA confirms that the planets are not "lining up" at this time. Furthermore, even if they were perfectly aligned, it is extremely unlikely their gravitational pull would have any type of effect on household items, with them being so very far away. On that same train of thought, stating that the trick only works during the Spring Equinox because the Sun's gravity "lines up with Earth's" turns out to be silly. If you draw a line between the center of the Earth and the Sun, follow it around Earth's rotation, and you'll see that at any given time, someplace on the Earth is going to be on that line.

It's starting to sound to me like we've de-bunked our celestial phenomenon. So, what's the trick? HOW is this working? The most scientific explanation I've found for why an egg is standing straight up is the basic fact of the imperfections in it's shell.

It's not going to work for every egg or on every try. You may have to have a bit of persistence to make it work, but it would appear that on any day of the year, anyone can make an egg stand. Those "bumps" on the egg's shell tend to work about like a tripod, holding it upright. Drop a little bit of salt under your egg, and it'll work even faster.

What about the broom? That trick was best explained by David Emery,

"Take any flat-bottomed broom with relatively stiff bristles, stand it up so the bottom is flat on the floor, then press straight down, forcing the bristles to spread apart on each side (depending on the particular broom, you may have to use your fingers to spread them evenly). Then gently let up on the downward pressure, balancing the broom upright as you release it. The bristles will retract but not completely, forming a relatively stable base and allowing it to continue standing by itself. It won't work every single time, mind you, or with every single broom, but I have to say that in my case it worked on the very first try with the very first broom I grabbed. Try it!"

I guess my skeptism won this time - our "phenomenon" has a "magic power" any day that you try it. The rumors will likely continue to spread every March Equinox, as they have for years, and people will continue to believe them, simply because it DOES work on the Equinox. The problem with that logic is that they don't ONLY work on the Equinox. They always do, with a bit of patience and maybe even some persistence.

What are you waiting for? Grab an egg or a broom or both, and go try it yourself, you know you want to!