- #1
Sutitan
- 8
- 0
Before I ask my question, I understand its possible to balance an egg. I just went out to buy some eggs and did it. I seem to have a magic egg that literally takes me about 3 seconds to balance. (I did cheat a bit. I shook it up pretty nice to break the chalaza to lower the center of gravity.)
The question my physics teacher asked me is "Why can't an egg be stood on its end? (assuming uniform density and a ellipsoid shape)" By ellipsoid I am assuming a Prolate spheroid. I am guessing he just wants a perfect "egg shape"
from my understanding, we can. Wouldn't the center of gravity be right down the middle? the location would be the same as the center of mass because of the uniform density. And the center of mass would just be at the center of the ellipsoid. therefore, if you found the exact point of the end of the ellipsoid, you could balance it, since it would line up with the CG.
I don't know what I am missing. I think you should be able to balance an egg on its end (especially given the conditions I was given). I hope I didnt mis-understand him cause of his really heavy accent. If it helps, we are learning about static equilibrium and elasticity.
The question my physics teacher asked me is "Why can't an egg be stood on its end? (assuming uniform density and a ellipsoid shape)" By ellipsoid I am assuming a Prolate spheroid. I am guessing he just wants a perfect "egg shape"
from my understanding, we can. Wouldn't the center of gravity be right down the middle? the location would be the same as the center of mass because of the uniform density. And the center of mass would just be at the center of the ellipsoid. therefore, if you found the exact point of the end of the ellipsoid, you could balance it, since it would line up with the CG.
I don't know what I am missing. I think you should be able to balance an egg on its end (especially given the conditions I was given). I hope I didnt mis-understand him cause of his really heavy accent. If it helps, we are learning about static equilibrium and elasticity.