Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My daughter is testing the effects of vinegar, and apple cider vinegar on bones. The example experiments we found were on chicken bones. We have acquired deer leg bones for this project and expected it to take longer but wanting to know how much longer than the 3-7 days that most sites have suggested it would take. We began soaking the bones on January 19 and we have noticed no change. Also, would you expect a difference in the vinegar and apple cider vinegar bones?

Thank you

I can't give you an exact time frame, but I would expect the deer bones to take much larger than chicken bones. As an object's size increases, the total amount of bone grows faster than the amount of the bone that is directly touching the vinegar. If the deer bones are 5 times as thick as the chicken bones, it might actually take 25x as long to get the same effect (though, these numbers are just rough estimates). It seems like the bones should be starting to get close, but it still might take another week or two. Did you use other types of bones as well or just deer bones? Especially if the science fair is getting close, you might want to try following the same procedure with chicken bones so you can have something to compare your results to if they don't see results in time. One interesting tangent is that this is the same reason why cells are so small.
Good Luck!
Katie

Hello!

In terms of your question regarding seeing a difference between the two vinegars, I can tell you that apple cider vinegar has a pH value of 4.5, while distilled white vinegar has a pH of around 2.4. (The lower the pH, the higher the acidity). Keeping in mind that it is acid that draws calcium out of bones, which vinegar do you think would remove calcium from the bones at a faster rate?

Lily

I have also tried this experiment with chicken bone and It works much faster than other bones. Yes, white vinegar draws calcium from the bone much faster and better than apple cider vinegar that's why apple cider vinegar is much more healthy in foods than other vinegars.

clmartin wrote:My daughter is testing the effects of vinegar, and apple cider vinegar on bones. The example experiments we found were on chicken bones. We have acquired deer leg bones for this project and expected it to take longer but wanting to know how much longer than the 3-7 days that most sites have suggested it would take. We began soaking the bones on January 19 and we have noticed no change. Also, would you expect a difference in the vinegar and apple cider vinegar bones?

Thank you

No i don't think that this time period will bring change to the bone or sufficient for your testing? Even taking the bone of deer does not mean that you have completed the test.