Prior Months

The Naked Egg

Have you ever seen a raw egg without its shell? Do this experiment and you will.

Materials:

1. 1-pint glass jar with a lid
2. 1 raw egg
3. 1 pint of clear vinegar.

Procedure:

1. Place the whole raw egg into the glass jar. Do not crack the egg.
2. Cover the egg with the clear vinegar.
3. Put the lid on the jar.
4. Observe immediately and then periodically for the next 24 hours.
5. Every day, GENTLY take the egg out and wipe off the egg with a paper towel. You may need to change the vinegar once or twice also.

What's happening?

Bubbles start forming on the surface of the egg shell IMMEDIATELY. This is because vinegar is actually a chemical called acetic acid. Egg shells are made of another chemical called calcium carbonate. When you put an egg in vinegar, the acetic acid and the calcium carbonate create a CHEMICAL REACTION. The bubbles you see are a byproduct of this reaction. Can you guess what those bubbles are? That's right, it's carbon dioxide! Once the shell is gone, the egg is held intact by a thin, see-through membrane around the outside. You should be able to see the yolk through the membrane and VOILA: the Naked Egg. You can hold your egg, just be careful or the YOLK will be on YOU!