March 20 is the vernal, or spring, equinox. Equinox in Latin means "equal night": on this day Earth is tilted neither towards or away from the sun, so every spot has 12 hours of both day and night. Because of that perfect tilt, people try to balance an egg on end at the exact moment of the equinox. It works -- because you can balance an egg any time! It's a game you can try today or any day!
Wee Ones: How many eggs are in a "dozen"? If you have a 1-dozen egg carton, count to find out!
Little Kids: Raw eggs wobble when they spin, but hardboiled eggs don't. If you have 4 wobbly eggs and the same number of non-wobbly eggs, how many do you have in total?
Bonus: Eggs are also really strong! If you stack 10 pounds of books and your 10-pound cat on top of an egg, how many pounds is your egg holding?
Big Kids: If you sleep 10 hours and it's dark tonight for 12 hours, but you sleep 1 hour past sunrise, how many hours of dark will you be awake?
Bonus: If you balance an egg at 12:57 pm your time, and it stands for an hour and 15 minutes, when does the egg finally tip over?
Answers:
Wee Ones: A dozen equals 12 eggs.
Little Kids: 8 eggs.
Bonus: 20 pounds.
Big Kids: 3 hours, since you sleep just 9 hours of dark.
Bonus: At 2:12 pm.
