Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi
My 3rd grader has her firat ever scince fair and we picked and thought we were nearly finished with the egg in a bottle idea. I know many of the ones out there call for matches but this one was suppose to work by just soaking a hard boiled egg in Vinegar until it softened then pushing into a bottle we have made several attempts and it is not working. The shell peels right off while we try to push it thru. We tried different size eggs as well different bottles. Any suggestions. My daughter has already done most of the research learnign about egg shell and what they are made of and why th vinegard has the effect it does the display board is nearly done except for the details about the experiment cause we have yet gotten it to work. With only 2 days left we have no time to change our project.

Hi,

Sounds like you are under a little deadline pressure. I have no personal experience with this experiment, but have just done some internet research with google. My conclusion is this experiment only works well by creating a vacuum in the bottle and sucking the egg in - it appears difficult to do by pushing the egg into the bottle by means other than a pressure difference.

People suggest
1) using a glass rather than plastic bottle
2) having the bottle diameter be about two thirds the diameter of the egg
3) setting the egg on the bottle tapered side down
4) using vegetable oil to lubricate the bottle opening
5) one can create the pressure difference by heating the bottle either with very hot water (applied outside or inside) before placing the egg on the bottle neck, or
By placing the egg on the bottle and then placing the bottle in very cold water, or
By lighting a small fire in the bottle and placing the egg on the bottle neck.

One person claimed it was possible to place the vinegar softened egg and the bottle both submerged in water. The proceedure is then to roll the egg with your hands into a long tube that can be slipped into the bottle. This might be possible, but I think it is a real long shot.

The safest way is to use a shelled hard boiled egg placed on top of a bottle with the appropriate sized neck that has a small fire inside the bottle, with the pointed end of the egg down. This is almost certain to work.

You may get other formulas to work with some experimentation, but I cannot tell you with assurance how.

Here are the links to sites I found discussing the experiment:
http://www.wikihow.com/Place-an-Egg-in-a-Beer-Bottle

http://www.teachingk-8.com/archives/int ... owens.html

http://www.everythingesl.net/lessons/eg ... iments.php

http://bizarrelabs.com/egg.htm

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 844AAVP7Dq

http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/demos/egginbottle.htm

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/mar/1 ... he-lesson/

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2008/02/12 ... ration.htm

http://space.newscientist.com/article/m ... -word.html

http://www.zianet.com/overkill/dopeland/eggtricks.htm

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/egg-e ... /445355143

http://www.cyberfriends.com/scripts/for ... number=283

Good luck with your science fair!

Barrett Tomlinson

Hi tina79,

One suggestion, in http://www.teachingk-8.com/archives/int ... owens.html it states: "Observe the containers for two or three days. Record the results of the chemical reaction. How much of the eggs' shells have disappeared?"

I know this doesn't fit into your schedule, but is possible that the eggs needed more time in the vinegar?

And displaying the 1) go/no-go status and 2) percentage of disappearance of the eggs' shells based on time soaked in the vinegar could be put on the display.