What makes brooms stand up

Despite the lack of facts, most social feeds are flooded with photos of brooms standing on their own NASA finally got in on the action that everyone claimed was originally from them, with a tweet debunking the myth. Don't get too swept up in the broomstickchallenge! Weird News. Rebecca Barry, Meteorologist. Published: February 11, pm Updated: February 11, pm. Tags: Weird News , Social.

In fact, there doesn't even seem to be a direct announcement from NASA that allegedly started the day-long fad. If you were one of many who ran out to Walmart to test the theory on an aisle full of brooms, though, don't beat yourself up about it.

When people started posting viral videos of themselves and others standing up their brooms on Feb. And the wildest thing is that no one had quite the same answer. Some claimed it was simply "because NASA said so," while others cited the earth's gravitational pull on that date. Even still, others claimed it was because of the earth's tilt alone. There are conflicting reasons about why brooms were standing by themselves because the source of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it fad was unclear from the start.

One person claimed it was backed by NASA-researched science and it snowballed from there, as these things often do. They wouldn't be internet fads if they didn't. If this were the case, objects weighing less than brooms would stand alone. While things may float around in New Orleans, or in The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World, I did not have random objects weighing less than a broom floating around my house.

If it was, the pens on my desk would be floating in the air. The broom can stand by itself because the center of gravity is directly above the edge on which it balances. The bristles are soft enough to spread out a bit at the contact point with the floor and provide a stable base to support the handle and allow the broom to balance.

Of course, believing that it is the alignment of planets, otherworldly beings, or the moons gravitational pull is way more fun to talk about than the real explanation. Here are some other fun simple physics demos you can do.

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