The Naked Egg Experiment!
This is one of my favourite eggs-periments ever, and not just for the chance to make silly egg jokes. EVERYONE should make a naked egg, it’s absolutely incredible! (No more egg jokes, I promise!
What do you need?
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A glass
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An egg
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White vinegar
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Lots of patience! (Harder to find than eggs and vinegar!)
Step 1
Fill your glass full enough with white vinegar so that you can completely cover your egg.
Step 2
Pop your egg in and look closely! See all of those bubbles on the surface? That’s what’s going to get our egg naked!
Step 3
Wait...
Step 4
Wait some more... To get your egg entirely naked might take a few hours. Replace the vinegar with fresh vinegar if needed.
Step 5
Gently! Bounce your naked egg – yes, you read that correctly! Naked eggs bounce!
It's so much fun. Get started, right away!
And remember to come back and read about how it all works too!
What's going on?
Why does vinegar get our egg naked? Well, the first clue is those little bubbles that you can see! Those bubbles mean there’s a chemical reaction going on!
The shell of an egg is made of calcium carbonate. This reacts with the acidic vinegar and causes bubbles of carbon dioxide to be given off. Eventually your whole eggshell will have dissolved into the vinegar!
Luckily, there's a membrane underneath the hard outer shell of your egg. You can see through the membrane and even see the yolk moving around. Try shining a torch at your naked egg. Oh, and naked eggs bounce too!
Warning!
This experiment is addictive – if you bounce your egg too hard you’ll need to start over with a new one!
Oh, and don’t eat your egg! It’s a pickled science experiment now!
Looking for yet more fun?
Continue the investigation like a real scientist...
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Does it have to be vinegar that you use, what other safe things could you try?
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How high can you bounce your egg before it goes splat
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How long will your egg last for?