About Earth Kugel
Outside the Science Museum of Virginia sits a granite planet weighing about 29 tons. The strange part is not merely its size. Visitors can move it with a hand.
The Mary Morton Parsons Earth Kugel is a nearly nine-foot-diameter sphere carved from roughly 300-million-year-old granite quarried in Le Sidobre, France. It rests on a 37,000-pound octagonal base, but pressurized water flowing beneath the sphere creates a thin supporting layer that reduces friction enough for the huge stone globe to rotate.
The effect feels wrong even after the engineering is explained. A person places a hand against more than 57,000 pounds of rock and watches the entire sphere begin turning. The Science Museum notes that ordinary household water pressure is greater than the pressure needed to keep the globe moving.
The Earth Kugel was dedicated in 2003 and at the time held a Guinness World Record as the world’s largest floating ball sculpture. Visiting it does not require museum admission. Richmond essentially keeps a 29-ton granite planet outside the front door so anybody passing by can give Earth a push.