I always say that science must be fun. It must be engaging and not appear to be some ominous thing that kids and adults hate. This week’s latest social media viral challenge involved a broom and some “science.” I place science in quotation marks because it was questionable science and based on a fake information. NASA didn’t say that a broom would stand up on a certain date, but many people fell for it.
At the end of the day, it was harmless. As a scientist and professor, I encourage engagement, but it is also my duty to sound the alarm when the science is bad. My plan was to spend lunch over a salad and soup platter. My laptop has been added to the mix because I feel compelled to write about three things to know about the viral broom challenge.
KING CITY, CA - MAY 15: A detail view of the broom wagon during stage three of the 13th Amgen Tour ... [+]
First and most importantly, the challenge seems to be based on a fake information attributed to NASA. This seems to be a recurring theme as I have written Forbes pieces in the past debunking social media myths that November would be dark for 15 days or that NASA has a massive cloud generating machine. This time, Twitter-lore said that NASA claimed a broomstick would stand up on its own because of gravity or something about the Earth’s axis on February 10th, 2020. My colleague Brian McNoldy at the University of Miami posted on his social media page, “Did I miss something? Why are people posting pictures of brooms standing up? Broom Pride Week?” When one of his friends explained what was going on, McNoldy said, “It will do that every day of the year though.” It probably has more to do with the broom and its lower center of gravity than anything celestial.
Astronomer Phil Plait is a friend of mine and former colleague at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He tweeted,
I’m seeing a lot of tweets about being able to balance a broom on last Friday — sorry folks, that’s an urban myth — with ppl saying *NASA* issued the challenge. But I’m seeing no links, nothing, to an original NASA source. Anyone see one? #broomchallenge
There is a similar myth that regularly gets around social media about balancing an egg on the equinox. Numerous scientists and articles have debunked it, but it comes around every year. I suspect the “broom challenge” will too.
The vernal and autumnal equinox
Second, this is a good opportunity to explain the equinox. The scientist in me wonders what the rationale was behind February 10th for this broom challenge. Even though equally wrong, I can at least see a logic to anchoring the egg myth to the equinox. The website Snopes.com provides an excellent explanation in its debunk of the “egg standing” myth:
every year on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes (on or about March 20 and September 22), the two days per year in which the length of day and night are the same, we hear about a magical property of these days that allows eggs to be balanced on end. Rarely does a year go by in which a local TV news station doesn’t send a reporter out to a neighborhood park to capture images of people delightedly placing eggs on the ground and watching in amazement as the eggs stand on end. Rarely do we see any new stories reporting that this same feat can be achieved every other day of the year as well
We are currently approaching the vernal equinox. The Northern Hemisphere of Earth will start tilting more towards the sun. During winter, it is tilting away from the Sun and is why we have colder seasons. The vernal equinox is the transition to warmer months and a greater amount of daylight hours.
The third thing to know about the “broom challenge” is that it stimulated science curiosity among kids, parents, and even celebrities. I have written previously in Forbes about the need to make science fun. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers will dominate the landscape going forward, and it is important for kids to engage. If this viral exercise caused a student to ask a question, it is probably a good thing as long as they receive the right answers.
Cassandra Shivers-Williams is a colleague in Oklahoma. She conducts research at the intersection of weather and social science. She posted, “Broom challenge: let's be glad people are excited about science!” She’s right. The science interest from this challenge should be leveraged not muted. There is a lot of bad science on social media. Hopefully this is an opportunity to caution people to question sources and information before they consume it. That’s what we as scientists do.
I did want to “clean” this broom thing up a little though.
