admin June 3, 2020

The Spinning Egg

By Fiona MacDonald
Elementary Category (Grades 4-6)
Experiment | Mathematics, Physics

Question:
Which spins on a carpet faster and longer a raw egg or a hard boiled and why?

Background Research:
The raw egg is slower and will spin for a shorter time because the raw egg is not one solid mass, unlike the hard boiled egg. (fleet.org.au/bbg/spinning-eggs/) .Brown eggs and white eggs are the same except white eggs are laid by white feathered chickens and brown eggs are laid by brown feathered chickens. (www.bestfoodfacts.org)

Hard-boiled eggs are less dense and they are easier to spin. They weigh the same unless one of them is cracked in which case it would be lighter because the cracked one loses water.

Hypothesis:
If I spin my eggs with my hands using equal force then the hard boiled egg will spin faster and longer because it is one solid mass where as the raw egg has liquids swirling in it so it will slow it down.

Variables:
Independent variable: one egg is boiled one egg is raw
Dependent Variable: The eggs are both spinning with equal force, which egg spins longer and faster

Materials:
One small pot, 500 ml {2 cups} of water, two white eggs {1 hard boiled egg, 1 raw egg}, a camera, a phone to time how long they spin for, a carpet, a measuring cup

Procedure:

1. Measure water then put it into the pot
2. Turn stove burner onto high to boil water
3. Place one white egg in boiling water in a small pot at high for eight minutes
4. After eight minutes take the egg out and wait for it to cool
5. Measure to see how high the carpet is
6. On the carpet spin eggs with equal force while taking a slow-mo video, pictures and notes
7. Time how long the egg spins
8. Observe
9. Watch the video to see how many times each egg spins and record Results: The hard boiled egg spun faster and longer than the raw egg. Both eggs spun slower and for a shorter time on the carpet versus the counter because the carpet created more friction than on a flat, smooth surface.

Conclusion:
My hypothesis was that if I spin my eggs on a carpet with my hands using equal force then the hard boiled egg will spin faster because it is one solid mass. My results do support my hypothesis because the hard boiled egg spun faster and longer on carpet than the raw egg. When tested on the thinner carpet the eggs spun for longer than they did on the thicker carpet because there was less friction on the thinner carpet. When the eggs were spun on the flat, smooth counter they spun even longer and faster than on the carpets because there was even less friction.

Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank:

• My Mom for taking pictures and videos of the experiment and helping me get on track and helping me stay focused.
• My Dad for helping me time my experiment.
• My friend Pippa for helping me stay focused at school.
• The chickens for laying the eggs.
• I would also like to thank Ms. Harman, Ms. Macdonald, and Ms. Tevaarwerk for helping me for all of my steps to getting on my way to the science fair.