The earth's rotation rate is slowing down because of friction against the tidal bulges caused by the gravitation of the moon (major factor) and the sun (lesser factor). The earth's rotational energy is dissipated as heat, but where is the angular momentum going, and what physical mechanism brings that momentum there?
(In reply to
re(2): I disagree - me too, with you by Ken Haley)
Ken,
Then I'm not sure what your confusion is. But rest assured, you are confused.
In the case of the earth you contend that the slow-down is more due to
the transfer to the fluids on the earth's surface, etc., etc.....
Then by this time (since the earth has slowed down TREMENDOUSLY in the
last several hundred million years), we should have a whirlwind (in the
air and the oceans) rivaling that of Jupiter's red spot. Yet, the
weather on our sphere remains relatively constant (even over
millenia). We certainly don't have such weather or currents or
eddies or flows that could comprise the angular momentum that the Earth
has lost. And it must be somewhere! The only plausible
explanation is that the Moon recedes, and indeed, distance measurements
to the moon verify this explanation.
As for the hard-boiled vs. raw egg, I haven't done any research into
this, but I would guess that it is simply that a softboiled egg is more
similar to one spinning a glass of water. Particularly with ONLY
A LARGE INITIAL IMPULSE, when spinning the glass, the water (or inside
of a liquid egg) tends to avoid spinning with the container.
However, if you were to spin a glass of ice (akin to the hardboiled
egg), you would find the insides spin with the container.
So, the answer to your question would be: it is because by
spinning the egg with "one quick twist", one imparts more angular
momentum (and rotational kinetic energy) to the hardboiled egg.
In both cases, the resulting friction (and also net force slowing the
system) is largely equivalent between the two systems, but there is
more kinetic energy and angular momentum to overcome in the hardboiled
case (i.e., it spins longer).
re(3): I disagree - me too, with you
