Photo by Alison Marras on Unsplash
Bouncing Egg
- Challenging
- Not Messy
- 60 Minutes
- Indoor
Change Everything You Think You Know About Eggs!
We all know what happens when you drop a regular egg on the ground. When you add vinegar (and some patience), you end up with a bouncy, squishy object!
You Will Need
Jar or glass (mason jars work well, but any glass or bowl will do)
Food coloring
1 cup of vinegar
1 egg
Directions
- Fill your container with about 1 cup of vinegar.
- Add about 10 drops of food coloring of your choice
- Carefully place a raw egg inside each jar. Let the eggs sit for about 48-72 hours in the vinegar and food coloring mixture.
- When the surface of the water has a weird scummy film, the eggs are ready to take out. Carefully remove the eggs from the jars and rinse them with water.
- You can gently roll and bounce the eggs to see what happens!
Experiment Extensions
- Once you have played with your egg, cut it open to observe the yolk. You should notice the yolk is still yellow, no matter what color you dyed the outside of your egg. This is because the protein content of the yolk prevents it from absorbing the color.
How it works
Through a process called osmosis, the vinegar moves through the egg’s shell. The vinegar dissolves the calcium in the egg’s shell but cannot get through the membrane in the shell. This leaves behind the rubbery membrane that allows you to bounce the egg without breaking it!
Key Words
- Calcium
- A mineral found in foods, specifically dairy, and stored in bones and teeth in our bodies.
- Membrane
- A thin flexible layer around the cells of all living things that separates the inside of cells from the outside world.
- Osmosis
- The movement of a liquid through a membrane to balance the amounts on both sides of the membrane. It is a passive process, meaning it does not take energy to happen.
- Protein
- A nutrient that builds, maintains, and replaces tissues in your body.