Debunking the #BroomChallenge that's sweeping the internet
PHOENIX - It's trending on social media and one search of #BroomChallenge results in thousands of pictures and videos of people trying to stand a broom up on its own.
Some people in Arizona are getting in on the fun in snowy Prescott this morning.
(Donald Pierson)
Someone started the rumor that NASA said on just one specific day this month because of gravitational forces, a broom could stand on its own.
"It's been absolutely viral, but it is a hoax," said Sari Custer of the Arizona Science Center.
Custer helped us debunk the challenge.
"You can try standing up a broom any day of the week, it will still do the same thing and it really just makes for a great party trick," she said.
NASA has nothing to do with the challenge and this isn't the first time this hoax has circulated the internet.
"This hoax has been coming up for years -- about a decade now, usually around the spring equinox -- stating that there's something different with gravity on Earth today," Custer said.
Custer says they're happy to set the record straight.
"This gives us a chance to work on critical thinking, showing people how they can look for credible sources to ask those critical question[sic]," she said. "If it doesn't sound right, if it doesn't sound true, it probably isn't."
The #BroomChallenge involves taking an ordinary broom and making it stand upright on its bristles without any support. (Jordan Smith/FOX TV Stations)