Bouncing Egg

     I saw something online the other day about soaking an egg in a bowl of vinegar, and then it being able to bounce.  So, I thought I would do this experiment with Ashley on Day 1 of spring break.  Ashley recently did a science week in her preschool class, and each day she would come home telling me of all the experiments that they did.  She seemed very excited about them so I figured she would love to do one at home.

     First I asked her if she knew what vinegar is, and this was her response:

     She said, "It's kinda like soda, and it's used for experiments."

     I then explained to her that we were going to put an egg in vinegar and see what happens.  I told her that scientist usually have a hypothesis of what may happen.  After explaining what a hypothesis was, I asked her what hers was on this experiment.

     She said, "The egg will stay in the bowl and then melt."

     So we set everything up, egg in a bowl, and covered with vinegar.  After about 30 minutes, (checking every 10), nothing really seemed to be happening.  I went online to see if we were doing it right and I saw that we have to put it in a COVERED bowl, and sit it in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

     I let Ashley in on this, and we fixed our mistakes.

     The next day, 24 hours later, we took out the container, excited to see if anything had happened.  I asked Ashley what she saw, allowing her to briefly touch the egg.

     She said, "Wow!  It's squishy.  It doesn't need to be hot to melt it, it's cold and the vinegar melted it anyways."

     We emptied the container, and filled it with new vinegar.  Deciding to try another day, we placed it back into the fridge for another 24 hours.

     Same thing happened after next 24 hours.  It was bubbly, squishy and sinky!

     On the third day, we took it out and examined it.

     Ashley was loving it.  I let her hold it and told her to be gentle.  We talked about how the shell seemed to disappear.  Ashley also told me, "It feels like a bouncy ball!"  So, I told her to go ahead and see if it would bounce.

     It did the first time, then she bounced a little harder, and splat!  The "shell" fell off.  It was like a rubber skin after sitting in the vinegar for a few days.

     Ashley then enjoyed playing with the yoke and, overall, making a big mess.