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.
Posted by Hakeem Maarof on Wednesday, December 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
Posted by Hakeem Maarof on Wednesday, December 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
— Serahlahhh (@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.