Breakfast at Murphy's (or why the toast lands butter-side down)
By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent
27 May 2001 - 12:00am
NO longer ridiculed as a myth, scientists have proved that Murphy's Law is true: if toast can land butter-side down, it will do.
Lurpak, the butter manufacturer, was setting up an educational project for schools, and wondered if I could devise an experiment based around Murphy's Law of toast. Together with staff from the Maths Year 2000 programme of the Department for Education, we drew up plans for the biggest-ever investigation of Murphy's Law, involving schoolchildren from across Britain.
The Lurpak Tumbling Toast Test began in March and ended earlier this month; more than 1,000 children took part, with toast tumbling off plates more than 21,000 times - making it by far and away the biggest-ever study of Murphy's Law.
The results, I'm relieved to say, were in complete agreement with the theory. The first experiment, with its 62 per cent face-down rate, clearly confirmed Murphy's Law. In the second test, designed to probe the effect of butter, the toast still landed 58 per cent of the time on the side marked "B" - a rate just four per cent lower than that with butter. This confirmed that, despite what many believe, butter is not the prime cause of the trouble.
The real culprit was revealed by the outcome of the final experiment. Of more than 2,000 tumbles from heights above 8ft, the toast landed face-down only 47 per cent of the time - confirming that it is only from such a great height that toast has much chance of landing butter-side up.
The children reported their results via the Maths Year 2000 website and it was clear that they relished the chance to use science to test their own theories about what was happening. Many came up with suggestions for beating Murphy's Law - along with evidence to back their claims. My favourite was from Hannah, seven, at the Good Shepherd Primary School in west London: "Butter the other side."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1331810/Breakfast-at-Murphys-or-why-the-toast-lands-butter-side-down.html
Breakfast at Murphy's (or why the toast lands butter-side down)
By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent
27 May 2001 - 12:00am
NO longer ridiculed as a myth, scientists have proved that Murphy's Law is true: if toast can land butter-side down, it will do.
Lurpak, the butter manufacturer, was setting up an educational project for schools, and wondered if I could devise an experiment based around Murphy's Law of toast. Together with staff from the Maths Year 2000 programme of the Department for Education, we drew up plans for the biggest-ever investigation of Murphy's Law, involving schoolchildren from across Britain.
The Lurpak Tumbling Toast Test began in March and ended earlier this month; more than 1,000 children took part, with toast tumbling off plates more than 21,000 times - making it by far and away the biggest-ever study of Murphy's Law.
The results, I'm relieved to say, were in complete agreement with the theory. The first experiment, with its 62 per cent face-down rate, clearly confirmed Murphy's Law. In the second test, designed to probe the effect of butter, the toast still landed 58 per cent of the time on the side marked "B" - a rate just four per cent lower than that with butter. This confirmed that, despite what many believe, butter is not the prime cause of the trouble.
The real culprit was revealed by the outcome of the final experiment. Of more than 2,000 tumbles from heights above 8ft, the toast landed face-down only 47 per cent of the time - confirming that it is only from such a great height that toast has much chance of landing butter-side up.
The children reported their results via the Maths Year 2000 website and it was clear that they relished the chance to use science to test their own theories about what was happening. Many came up with suggestions for beating Murphy's Law - along with evidence to back their claims. My favourite was from Hannah, seven, at the Good Shepherd Primary School in west London: "Butter the other side."
Murphy's law states that,
"If things can go wrong they will"
Smiths law;
"Murphy was an optimist"