"If a hard boiled egg is spun sufficiently rapidly on a table with its axis of symetry horizontal, the axis will rise from the horizontal to the vertical.   ...The essential mecahanism can be traced to the action of the frictional force between the spinning object and the table.  If this frictional force vanishes, the 'rise' phenomenon does not occur.  A raw egg does not rise when spun, simply because the angular velocity imparted to the shell must diffuse into the fluid interior... the remaining energy being insufficient for a state of gyroscopic balance to be established."

To put this phenomenon in the context of the Martin Luther King Jr  holiday:

    Our axis will rise, our axis will rise, from the horizontal to the vertical, our axis will rise.  But know that our inner resolve must be firm- we cannot be raw.  And I say fear not the forces of friction, for it is this very resistance that will allow us to stand.  Our axis will rise, our axis will rise, brown or white, medium, large, extra-large or jumbo, from the cages to the free ranges, our axis will rise.

    This has been a not-so-great tribute to one of our greatest Americans, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr  (Jan. 15, 1929 - Apr. 4, 1968).

    "Our scientific powers have outrun our spiritual powers; we have guided missiles and mis-guided men."  -MLK
 

Past observances:   [2002 MLK Tribute]     [2003 MLK Tribute]
 

*Moffatt, H.K. & Shimomura, Y. Nature 416, 385-386 (2002)