This episode was especially emotional for me. When I was just a child, my grandfather told me he knew how to draw an egg using a ruler and compass. Unfortunately I never asked him how this could be done, but that question never left my mind. My grandpa would have a birthday this month if he were alive. In a way, I feel good about imagining that maybe this was the solution, and that I no longer need to carry with me the anguish of never having asked what the method was.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn One was called "Think of a Number". There were other titles... "Think Again", "Think It... Do It" "Johnny Ball Reveals All" and probably others.
I worked with with laying hens for thirty years and I can tell you that the shell is placed on the egg in the uterus. It comes out hard unless the hen is very young or very old or is not getting enough calcium in their diet.
@@PeppoMusic Okay, I want you to tell me how on earth the calcium carbonate crystals that make up the shell form in the half second between the egg leaving the chicken and hitting the ground? Eggs don't have flat spots, so it can't take any longer than that. When we make it ourselves, we bubble CO2 through calcium hydroxide, but that path isn't remotely viable because there isn't enough CO2 in the air, and calcium hydroxide is not great for most living things.
This is like math ASMR. I love this so much, with the wonderful soothing storytelling voice and the slow drawing of something mathematically complex. I love it.
The shape of a bird's egg is evolutionarily influenced by how precariously the species' nests are built. A sphere is the topologically ideal shape for an egg, but it can also easily roll away. An egg shape rolls in a circle, and the "pointier" it is, the smaller the circle. Accordingly, birds that nest on the ground tend to have eggs that are close to spheres, while cliff-dwelling seabirds have extremely pointed eggs that reduce the odds of them rolling off the ledge and plummeting to their doom.
Pointy eggs are less likely to roll down slopes too, and the blunt end, where the chick develops, stays cleaner than the pointy end. It seems to be a combination of all three things.
This isn't true, but it's a common myth. Egg shape correlates with the ability to fly. In general, the 'better' a bird species is at flying, the pointier it's eggs are. This is thought to be a side-effect of evolving a more streamlined body. Penguins are the only obvious exception, as they don't fly but most species lay pointed eggs. They do need to be streamlined to swim, however.
@@finndriver1063 "Egg shape correlates with the ability to fly" seems to be the factor in both explanations. Both body shape and tendency to have nests over ground will correlate with a birds ability to fly. But we can't know for sure what exactly was the evolutionary cause, maybe something else entirely.
Johnny Ball was a huge part of my life via the TV in the 70's / 80's! I would sit with a glass of milk and a biscuit and watch Johnny Ball on Play Away - Later, on Think of A Number etc. Your Voice carries such nostalgia and reminds me of a time when I was the youngest of my family. Zoe was very lucky to have you as a Dad. I wish you well.
2 года назад
It's always a joy seeing a new video with Prof. Johnny Ball.
I was waiting for Johnny to ask us to "Think of a number"! He started in many of us a passion for mathematics. If you want more children to take up STEM subjects you need more Balls, as in Johnny Balls. Alas, I think he's unique, a one-of. Thank you JB!
Thanks for including those honking formulas. I have yet to read that paper. I was going to comment that I highly doubt the true egg shape is a series of perfect circular arcs. Perhaps that shortcut is good enough to approximate it to a visual satisfaction.
I agree, if you pause at 4:39 you will be able to notice the curves are close but not an exact match. We have the technology to 3d laser scan thousands of real eggs to compare them to mathematical models. I also doubt that a physical object will have 1 radius of curvature, and then hit a line where it has half the curvature projected around a rotated axis followed by a spherical endcap.
I do the same, but the centers of the circles that form the sides of the thin end are on the endpoints of the lower semicircle By step by step 1) Draw a perpendicular bisector crossing point O 2) Draw a circle crossing the horizontal line at points A and B, and the vertical line at point C 3) Construct and extend lines AC and BC 4) Draw two with centers A and B both with radius AB, lines AC and BC at points D and E 4) Draw the top of the egg by drawing an arc with center C and radius CD or CE
meanwhile in the demon world, everyone is freaking out while the egg demon laughs at them hysterically with tears running down his cheeks, he mocked them with: "HA... you all didn't believe that I would ever be summoned, but look... after waiting for what felt like an eternity, because my summon ritual is very particular, I am finally called to the realm of the human beings... my time has finally come HAHAHA!!!"
@Nacho Rodríguez No, it is an urban myth. In fact, the shell being made is roughly equivalent to someone's water breaking, it is kinda the final signal to go lay. Further evidence is the fact when you dissolve the shell, the membrane that remains is still egg shaped, because the shape gets set internally. If it was naturally spherical (and somehow coated in some wild, rapid precursor to calcium carbonate that somehow works before the egg can travel the 2 cm to the ground, since eggs don't have flat spots) the shell would be holding it in tension that would be removed, returning the egg to a ball.
Eggs are warm when they come out too. We fed our chickens broken seashells and baked egg shells for protein for the next shells. I love Johhny's books. Not too technical.
Phanes Protogonus hatched from the cosmic egg through the serpent..created by chronos. According Orphic Mythology at least, Then Prometheus became the Demiurge but yea its the same "fallen angel" arc .probably remixed from hindu and sumerian myhtology
"it links nature to geometry" At the one hand I love that quote. At the other hand I am thinking that it is a redundancy: there is so much geometry in nature, that both of them can't be seen separately. I wonder if Mr Ball has any more secrets in the safe repository of his heart...
Jonny great to you see you still in business, you were responsible for showing that maths and science were fun and interesting when I was a little boy. Been doing it ever since, mostly via computers, and have made a fairly major discovery about intelligence based on some pretty esoteric maths. Thanks so much and keep it up! Bless
So for egg shape we have the geometric approximation presented here and the set of egguations presented in the linked paper. Gotcha. The question is now, which bird lays the most Pythagorean eggs?
