Naked Eggs

This week we have been helping Rhett do a Science Fair Project for school. I asked him what he wanted to do his project on, but he couldn't think of one certain topic. So I had him look online at a website for experiments at www.sciencebuddies.org They have a TON of ideas, but nothing there peaked his interests. So I had him look through his science books and luckily Grandma gave him "The Mad Scientist's Notebook" for his birthday and he found "Naked Eggs."

The Purpose of the experiment was "How can I see inside of an egg without the shell breaking and will the egg bounce with hardly any shell?"

His Hypothesis was "If I soak the eggs long enough in vinegar, the shells will dissolve."

It was then time to start the Procedure. The first day he started by putting 6 medium eggs in a pan, filled with White Vinegar, and then covered the pan with foil.

After 24 hours, he took the eggs out of the fridge to see how they looked. The vinegar reacted to the egg's shell making it bubble and dissolve. 

The more the egg's shell dissolved, the more water from the vinegar got into the egg helping it bounce. From 6 inches the egg bounced, from 12 inches the egg bounced, from 18 inches the egg broke.

He then put the remaining eggs back into the pan, covered with fresh vinegar, and covered with foil and put back into the fridge. After another 24 hours, he took the eggs out to see the progress of the eggs. The egg's shell was more dissolved, and more water got into the egg causing it to double in size.

He then tried to bounce the eggs again. From 6 inches the egg bounced, but this time after 12 inches the egg broke.

He put the remaining eggs in to the pan again, filled with fresh vinegar, covered with foil, and put back into fridge. After 24 hours (72 hours total) of sitting in vinegar, he took the eggs out again to check the progress. The egg's shell has completely dissolved, and you can finally see the yoke inside the egg. The egg has tripled in size.

He tried the bounce test once more. But from 6 inches, with no shell at all, the egg broke.

His Conclusion was "After 3 full days of sitting in vinegar, the shells have completely dissolved proving my Hypothesis correct."

His Practical Application was "By doing this experiment, I was able to prove if my Hypothesis was right or wrong."

We are just so incredibly proud of Rhett and his hard work through this project. He was able to type up all his notes and label his board the correct way. He's pretty excited to show off his work at Discovery Night tomorrow.