With a bit of patience and a little rubbing, you can turn a breakable egg into a squeezable ball! This experiment is a classic illustration of the power of acid. Everyday we drink lemon flavored drinks, coca colas, and slather on hot sauce. Each of these have a high acid content. Watch, wait and wonder as the acid content of vinegar eats away the calcium of the egg shell. Makes you wonder what happens to your teeth as you eat and drink acidic foods …
What you need:
- vinegar
- egg
- glass
What you do:
- Carefully place the egg into a glass.
- Pour in enough vinegar to cover the egg completely.
- Let sit for two days.
- After two days, remove the egg and rub off the remaining shell.
You should be able to see straight inside the egg now! The shell is gone and all that is left between you and the egg is a thin membrane.
Why it works
An egg shell is made of calcium carbonate. The vinegar causes a chemical reaction to take place and carbon dioxide gas is released (all the bubbles you saw). The reaction keeps going until all of the carbon from the calcium carbonate is gone – leaving the egg naked!
