Balancing Brooms: Fact or Fiction?

      Rumor has it that during specific times of year people claim to be able to stand their brooms on end. I had never heard of this phenomenon until college, at which point I felt like I had been missing out on some really cool amazing thing. During certain times of the year, all forms of social media would be flooded with pictures of brooms mysteriously standing on their bristles. The whole idea seemed slightly strange to me, but if there is one thing I learned in college it was to alter my conception of the word strange. So I bought into the whole broom thing. The explanation given for this amazing act of magic was the moon. I am not sure exactly what the moon was supposedly doing that was special, but it did something weird to the gravitational pull which made brooms every where stand on their bristles.

      In my research about balancing brooms, I first had to educate myself on the actual myth. Which is as follows: As spring approaches, earth experiences the spring equinox. Also called the vernal equinox, this is the moment when the sun crosses the equator on its way north, signaling the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of winter in the Southern Hemisphere. On this day, brooms (or eggs) are said to balance on their ends.

      In fact, the case of the balancing broom is fiction! Brooms (like eggs) will balance any day of the year. All one needs is a steady hand and a broom that is flat on the bottom. If you try this at home and can't get your broom to stand on its own, try pushing straight down, forcing the bristles to spread apart on each side. Then gently let up on the downward pressure, balancing the broom upright as you release it. The bristles will form a relatively stable base which should allow the broom to continue standing on its own.

      There you have it, broom balancing can happen any day of the year, without the assistance of planetary alignment or crazy moons! Check out Discovery News for more exciting science information!