Secondary 5

Mystery challenge!

Our students were challenged to find a way to remove an egg from its shell without breaking the shell. The students each had:

• 1 raw egg
• 1 clear plastic cup
• clear vinegar enough to cover the egg in the cup
• a teaspoon and a plate
• food colouring of their choice – light colour so you can still see through the vinegar
• 1 egg placed in a cup in tap water

Procedure

Gently place the egg in the cup. Add food colouring to the vinegar mix and pour over the egg until it is covered. The students put an egg into water to see if water alone could remove the shell.

Observations during the experiment

The egg sunk to the bottom of the cup.

Bubbles rose from the egg.

The egg started to change colour.

The egg is a bit bigger than it was.

The egg was softer than it was at the start.

The shell dissolved into the vinegar.

Once the shell dissolved the egg was covered in the membrane that surrounds the egg.

The egg kept expanding but the membrane ruptured.

The egg continued to absorb the colour and the fluid around it.

The inside of the shell changed colour.

The goal was to remove the egg from the shell without breaking the shell.

We succeeded!