Peeling a Raw Egg

 

 

It was Engineering week and we wanted to look at some chemical engineering. We wanted to see if it was possible to peel a raw egg without breaking it! We thought it was impossible before we started.

 

 

You will need:

 

a raw egg, a jar with a lid (that the egg will fit in), a spoon, a torch and vinegar.

 

 

 

Method:

Fill the jar with vinegar.

Put the egg in the jar very carefully using the spoon to put it in.

Put the lid on the jar.

Leave it in the jar for 48 hours.

 

What happened?

 

The shell of the egg dissolved in the vinegar. The shell is made from calcium carbonate and the vinegar is an acid. The acid dissolves the calcium carbonate and all that was left was the egg in its membrane.

 

The egg was very fragile and bounced. It looked like it was plastic.

We put the torch up to the egg. We turned on the torch and the egg looked like it was glowing. It looked almost like a light bulb! We could see the yolk inside the membrane.