How to determine if an egg is hard-boiled or uncooked

Around Easter, when we've boiled up a few dozen eggs for colouring, someone accidently mixes the hard-boiled eggs with the uncooked ones. This can be a sticky problem come the next morning, when kiddies who expect eggy goodness only get eggy goo.

Anyway, to determine if that egg is cooked, all you have to do is lay the egg over on its side and spin it quickly. Let it spin for a few seconds, then using your fingertips, stop it and release. If the egg starts slowly spinning again, it is raw. This is because the liquid goo inside is still in motion, and when you stop and release it, the yolk causes the egg to return to spinning, albeit slowly.

If it stops and does not start spinning, it's cooked enough so the goo is not so gooey anymore.

Or, you can tap the egg gently on the table. If it makes a light *tap*, it's raw; if it makes a dull *thud*, it's hard boiled. Shaking the eggs is also a viable option. As mentioned above, the goo inside a raw egg moves somewhat independently of the shell. If you're paying attention, you can feel the egg go *slosh* if it isn't cooked.