Segment #2 - Bouncy, Rubber Eggs!

Bouncy Naked Eggs!
Segment 2

"Which came first, the rubber egg or the rubber chicken?" It's easy to make a rubber egg if you understand the chemistry of removing the eggshell with vinegar. What you're left with is a totally embarrassed naked egg and a cool piece of science.
   
Welcome to the Science Playground! Today we're going to be exploring osmosis through making bouncy, naked eggs!

EGGCELLENT!!

The ingredients you're going to need for this experiment include:

• A Raw Egg.
• White Vinegar.
• Corn Syrup.
• Food Colouring.

The equipment you're going to need for this experiment include:

• A Glass.
• Spoon.

The reaction we're creating today isn't dangerous, but it's always a good idea to wear a lab coat or apron and goggles to protect from spills and splashes.

The first step in our experiment is to take our egg and gently place it in the bottom of your glass. If you break your egg, you're going to have to start over again. Once you place your egg in the bottom, pour your vinegar over top of your egg. The vinegar is going to remove the calcium shell off of your and it will expose the membrane.

The shelled egg will need to sit in the vinegar bath for 48 hours. As the egg bathes in the vinegar, you will shortly begin to see the shell dissolve. The bubbles clinging to our egg will cause the egg to float, flip and turn. After that, the shell will be fully dissolved and the membrane will be fully exposed. Once this step is complete, pour out your vinegar into a sink and gently catch the egg. Rinse off the egg under cold water.

Once you have your egg removed from the vinegar, you will notice that it has grown in size. This is because the water particles have flown from the vinegar into the egg through OSMOSIS.

The next step is to VERY GENTLY place your naked egg into a glass. Pour your corn syrup over top of it. You will then need to bend your spoon to submerge your egg into the syrup. The spoon will forcefully keep the egg submerged, as it has the tendency to float. Be extra gentle not to pop or break the egg! The egg will then need to sit in the corn syrup from 24-48 hours. Once this stage is complete, pour out your corn syrup into the sink. Gently catch your egg and give it a rinse.

The next step is to fill a glass with water, add some food colouring of your choice and give it a stir. Now with your coloured water, gently place your shriveled egg into the glass and leave it for another 24 hours.The shriveled egg will begin to expand and grow larger, as the water particles begin to pass through the eggs membrane. After 24 hours, pour out your water in the sink and gently catch your egg.

So why did this reaction occur? Lets take a look at this experiment a little closer.

Vinegar is made up of a water solution of acetic acid, while the egg shell is made up of calcium carbonate.When we place our egg into the vinegar, the molecules cause a chemical reaction thaat produces carbon dioxide gas, water and calcium acetate. Once the shell of our egg is removed, and we can fully expose the membrane under it, something really interesting happens. The water particles in our vinegar begin to travel through the membrane of our egg and it begins to fill with water. Since the eggs membrane is semipermeable, it only allows some particles to move through - water being one. 

When we place our egg into the corn syrup, the opposite reaction occurs. The water travels through the eggs membrane and then into the syrup. As the egg begins to lose its water particles, it will begin to shrink and shrivel up. 

When we place our egg into the coloured water, once again the water particles move through the membrane and back into the egg. This causes the egg to swell and expand - this time even larger.

The process of the water travelling back and forth through our membrane to create our different stages of egg is known as, OSMOSIS!

So that's it for today guys! I hope you all enjoyed today's experiment, stay tuned for our next segment, ELEPHANT TOOTHPASTE!

If you have any questions regarding this experiment, or science in general, feel free to email me at englishprojectscience@gmail.com!