Top Document: [sci.astro] General (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (2/9) Previous Document: B.13 Can stars be seen in the daytime from the bottom of a tall chimney, a deep well, or deep mine shaft? Next Document: B.15 Is the Earth's sky blue because its atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen? Or could other planets also have blue See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge Luck. In short, there's no validity to the idea that eggs can only be balanced on the equinox. This question often arises during March and September, when it is not unusual to hear, see, or read news reports about the equinox occurring during that month. It is also not unusual to hear news reports being able to balance an egg on the equinox day. In fact many times these reports will highlight a classroom wherein the students are shown trying to balance eggs. Naturally some eggs will balance and others will not---one time, then perhaps do differently the next time. The focus in these reports, however, seems to be on the eggs that do balance rather than the observations from the experiment that not all eggs balanced the first time tried, nor did all eggs always balance, or perform the same way every time. There are a number of problems with the idea of balancing an egg: 1. Typically, explanations about the balancing act involve gravity. One explanation that I've heard suggested that gravity is "balanced" when the sun is over the earth's equator. Another gravity-based explanation is that the sun exerts a greater gravitational attraction on the earth on these two days. If gravity is involved in balancing the egg shouldn't other objects balance as well? Or is gravity selective such that only an egg is affected on this particular day? 2. The equinox is a certain day, while the sun is actually at the equinox point for an instant (0 degrees on the celestial equator and 12 hours within the constellation Virgo). Therefore, shouldn't the egg only be balanced at the specific time that the sun reaches that position? 3. If the Sun's gravity is involved, shouldn't latitude have an effect? For example I live at 40 degrees north. Shouldn't the egg lean at an angle pointing towards the sun where I live---and if so, then it should only be standing straight up at the equator? You can of course conduct your own experiment. Issues to consider when designing your experiment include, Would the same egg balance on any other day(s) during the year? What would be the results of standing the same egg under the same physical conditions and at the same time each day throughout the year? User Contributions:Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:Top Document: [sci.astro] General (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (2/9) Previous Document: B.13 Can stars be seen in the daytime from the bottom of a tall chimney, a deep well, or deep mine shaft? Next Document: B.15 Is the Earth's sky blue because its atmosphere is nitrogen and oxygen? Or could other planets also have blue Part0 - Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: jlazio@patriot.net
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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with stars, then every direction you looked would eventually end on
the surface of a star, and the whole sky would be as bright as the
surface of the Sun.
Why would anyone assume this? Certainly, we have directions where we look that are dark because something that does not emit light (is not a star) is between us and the light. A close example is in our own solar system. When we look at the Sun (a star) during a solar eclipse the Moon blocks the light. When we look at the inner planets of our solar system (Mercury and Venus) as they pass between us and the Sun, do we not get the same effect, i.e. in the direction of the planet we see no light from the Sun? Those planets simply look like dark spots on the Sun.
Olbers' paradox seems to assume that only stars exist in the universe, but what about the planets? Aren't there more planets than stars, thus more obstructions to light than sources of light?
What may be more interesting is why can we see certain stars seemingly continuously. Are there no planets or other obstructions between them and us? Or is the twinkle in stars just caused by the movement of obstructions across the path of light between the stars and us? I was always told the twinkle defines a star while the steady light reflected by our planets defines a planet. Is that because the planets of our solar system don't have the obstructions between Earth and them to cause a twinkle effect?
9-14-2024 KP