Issue 7 - February 2001
According to Murphy's Law, "If things can go wrong, they will go wrong". For instance, if the toast we made for breakfast slides off our plate, Murphy's Law says it will usually land butter-side down. Many people think that's exactly what happens - but are they right, and why?
This worksheet describes a series of experiments to find out the truth behind Murphy's Law of Toast. You will need:
There are two experiments. The first is designed simply to find out if it really is true that if our toast slides off a plate and on to the floor, it usually lands butter-side down. The second experiment then investigates the most common explanation for toast landing butter-side down: that it's due to the presence of the butter.
Carry out a series of 20 drops - this will help reduce the effect on one-off flukes and lucky bounces on the final result.
Many people think that it's the butter that's to blame for the butter-down landings. If that's true, then unbuttered toast should slide off the plate but land facing the same way up as it started. If it does the same as buttered toast and turns face-down, however, the cause of the face-down landings must lie in the toast itself.
To find out, repeat experiment 1 with a fresh piece of unbuttered toast. But this time, instead of butter, just put a letter "B" on one side with the marker pen. Then go through steps 3 to 5, starting with the "B" side uppermost on the toast, and see how many times the toast slides off the plate and lands with the "B" side facing down (the equivalent of butter-down landings).
So...Is it true that buttered toast usually lands butter-side down ? And is it true that - as many people think - it's the presence of the butter that's to blame ?
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