If you soak chicken bones in acetic acid (distilled vinegar), you’ll get rubbery bones that are soft and pliable as the vinegar reacts with the calcium in the bones. This happens with older folks when they lose more calcium than they can replace in their bones, and the bones become brittle and easier to break. Scientists have discovered calcium is replaced more quickly in bodies that exercise and eating calcium rich foods, like green vegetables.
This is actually two experiments in one – here’s what you need to do:
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The best way to share your video is on the Facebook students page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/superchargedsciencestudents
We would post the video of the water-balloon-like egg if we could, but that apparently is not possible with this comment forum.
We left a boiled egg in one jar of vinegar and a raw egg in another jar of vinegar for three whole 24-hour days. The boiled egg came out just like the one in the video, but the raw one came out looking really weird! If you have ever eaten a boiled egg you know the thin skin inside of the shell. Well, our raw egg came out of the vinegar with no shell at all! Instead it had merely the translucent membrane holding the white and yolk inside. It felt exactly like a water balloon. Then we held it over the sink and popped it with a pin. The yolk exploded out of it, once again just like a water balloon. It was extremely awesome!
No, the calcium will get dissolved by the vinegar, but it won’t pop – there’s no air pressure on the inside!
Hi.I was wondering will the Egg pop?
Why did the egg turn to rubber but it could still break?
You don’t, actually! The shell has gone through a chemical change, and it’s no longer brittle, so it stretches instead of fractures when you put pressure on it.
how can you brake it!
there are two ways the vidio and getting rubber and shaping it like an egg.
(This is Amanda.) I found some sort of wispy grayish-white stuff floating in the egg jar midway through the experiment. What is that, and is it normal?
Yes and yes! Check it against a regular egg from the fridge so you have something to compare it to! 🙂
Hi, Do we check the egg 24+48=72 or 24+24=48 hours? , also is a regular egg a raw egg? a white shelled egg or something else? please tell me what THX 🙂
Not easily, no. But can you see an application of this experiment to help you clean the deposits from faucets and shower heads easily?
Is there a way to reverse the reaction and put calcium back into the shell?
Hi Gabriella,
I apologize for the confusion. The way your escience subscription works is that you have access to units 1-7 the first month you sign up, after another month, you get access to units 8 & 9 and then after another month you get units 10 & 11 and so on and so forth.
Having said that, you can email us anytime if you need access to a unit that you do not have yet. We can give you up to two extra units at a time. I have given you full access to the 1st and 2nd grade levels, just let me know if you need anything else.
You can see everything you currently have access to here: https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/study-units
Did we somehow get into to wrong level when we signed up for our one month $1 trial. Because we went to 1st and 2nd grade topics and so far haven’t found any complete experiment?
Thank you. 😀
The difference is in how the vinegar was made. White wine vinegar is fermented, whereas distilled vinegar was made through a distillation process. Both will work for this experiment, as you need something acetic to react with the calcium in the egg shell.
Whats the difference between white vinegar and distilled white vinegar because we don’t have any distilled vinegar?
😀 😛 🙂
No. Upper level content says it in the first line “This experiment is for grades 9-12.” I’ll have my team look into your account and see what’s up and contact you by email.
Is this a grade 9-12 content. Because its not letting me watch the video or see the things needed. I suppose that i don’t need the list that bad but I still want to watch the video. 🙁 And also how long do the rubber eggs last?
It does look orange, doesn’t it? It’s actually a transparent yellow-white in reality. And you do take the shell off – the calcium in the egg dissolves in the vinegar.
Hi Aurora, I have a question. Can you take the shell off the egg after its rubbery? Just wondering because the picture on the title is a clear orange color. 😀 🙂
I am not sure if you’re wondering about the chemical reaction between the vinegar and the eggshell, or the bubbles made when you boil an egg, so here’s the answer to both:
Egg in Vinegar
The egg shell is made up of calcium carbonate. This organic compound is also found in limestone, chalk, marble, and coral. It is classified as a base, with a pH below 7.
Vinegar contains acetic acid. Acetic acid is what gives vinegar its awful taste. It’s classified as an acid, with a pH above 7.
As calcium carbonate reacts with the vinegar, and the egg shell dissolves, a chemical change occurs and carbon dioxide gas is released in the form of the bubbles you see as the egg shell dissolves. You will also smell vinegar when the bubbles occur, but vinegar is not being given off by the chemical reaction. Vinegar has a very low surface tension and that stink goes everywhere. Peeee uuuuuu.
The chemical equation: CaCO3(s) + 2CH3COOH(aq) à Ca(CH3COO)2(aq) + 2H2)(l) + CO2(g)
Chemical change in an egg
I would love to type out the chemical equation for you, but it’s not that simple. The chemical makeup of an egg is very complex. An egg is not a pure substance. It’s a complex and tasty treat made up of hundreds of chemical compounds. Each of these compounds go through their own chemical changes. The exact details of the reactions taking place involve very complicated organic chemistry, but I will try to give you a short explanation. As the egg cooks, proteins are broken apart and reformed into a slightly different form that allows them to bond with each other. The ordinarily long, twisted, folded, and curled proteins begin to move around rapidly. They bang into each other and the surrounding water molecules. This uncalled for violence on the part of the proteins breaks the weak bonds that allow the proteins to retain their twisted shape. These now uncurled proteins break bonds with most of the water and sulfur in the forms of H20 and SO2. The proteins continue to bond until the egg is cooked to your satisfaction. If you continue to heat the egg, more water is driven off, making the egg even more solid and now you have a rubbery, if not burnt, egg. If you take the cooking this far, your nose will curl up as you find the rest of the sulfur the egg retained.
Clara, I love chemistry and in fact, everything that has to do with science. Because of this, I probably gave you a longer answer than you needed. If you are a science nerd like me, you might welcome the extra information. If not, and you are more interested in the simple answer, look below.
The gas that is given off when an egg cooks is a mixture of water and sulfur.
I have a question:what is the gas that comes out when the egg starts bubbling?
Clara(kid of Bettina K.)
Cool ! I didn’t think you could turn something rock hard into rubber! ; ) Isabel Pitcher
As a general rule, it’s not a good idea to eat your science experiments. Did you see the experiment about how to get the egg to sink and float using salt? Try here: https://www.sciencelearningspace2.com/2011/06/salty-eggs/
2 Questions:
1. Can you eat the egg after it has been sitting in the vinegar for 1-3 Days?
2. Our egg is floating, is there any way to make it sink?
Thank you!
you are so awesome aurora!
How would you use the helium?
I have that to but I us a sharp knife to poke that it just became a egg
Too cool!!! Sarah wonders what will happen if we use helium!