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According to a popular scientific theory, an egg will support
itself that way when the moon obscures the sun and during the
spring equinox, due to increased gravity.
While the theory has been debunked, that did not stop Malaysian
and Indonesian social media users from putting it to the test on
Thursday, as thousands of skywatchers gathered across parts of
Asia to witness a rare annular solar eclipse.
Videos shared online showed dozens of users succeeding in
getting eggs to balance on different surfaces including on
gravel, a window pane, and a plate during the 'ring-of-fire'
eclipse.
Hakeem Maarof, a Malaysian father of two, filmed eggs standing
on end on a stone pavement and on the road after remembering
being told about the theory by a friend.
"It's more of an experiment for my kids," Hakeem, who posted the
footage of Facebook, told Reuters.
Dr Chong Hon Yew, a retired physicist from the Malaysian Science
University, said there was no evidence to back up the theory.
"You can do the same experiment tomorrow, before or after
eclipse – it's easy to do it," Chong said. "But it's a fun trick
to do (during an eclipse) to get young kids interested in
science and astronomy."
Thursday’s annular eclipse - which occurs when the moon covers
the sun’s center but leaves its outer edges visible to form a
ring - was also visible in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, India and
Sri Lanka.
In most years, two solar eclipses are visible from somewhere on
Earth. The maximum number per year is five.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; editing by John Stonestreet)
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