corn syrup and sprite experiment

Babble Dabble Do

30 Simple Kitchen Science Experiments for Curious Kids

February 13, 2022 by Ana Dziengel 2 Comments

Try these simple kitchen science experiments that utilize basic materials from the pantry! Yes, science for kids is THAT easy.

Of all the science secrets I have learned over the years, utilizing my pantry is probably the most important one. There’s a simple reason why: Cooking is chemistry. Think about it, when you cook (especially when baking ) you combine different ingredients, add heat, and create a new substance. That’s chemistry.

After years of working with children on science experiments, I realized that introducing science to kids really is as easy as a trip to your pantry/refrigerator. In fact, with 10 common household ingredients you can do a whole host of science projects. In this post I’ll share 20 kitchen science experiments to try with our Top 10 ingredients. And then I’ll share some bonus experiments using additional pantry ingredients.

This post contains affiliate links.

Top 10 Kitchen Science Experiment Ingredients

• Food Coloring
• Baking Soda

Why are these ingredients perfect for science experiments?

Before we get to the kitchen science experiments, let’s talk about why each of these substances are so magical!

1. Food Coloring

A couple drops of food coloring make experiments come to life for kids. Not only does color make reactions easier to see, it also gets kids excited about trying an experiment. I always give kids a choice of colors when they do their experiments and they love any opportunity for personalization. If you will be doing a lot of experiments at home or with students in the classroom, I highly recommend you buy large bottles of food coloring at a restaurant supply store or invest in liquid watercolors . A little goes a long way.

2. Corn Syrup

Corn syrup is the perfect ingredient to illustrate the concept of viscosity to kids. Viscosity is the measure of friction in a liquid. This determines how fast or slow a liquid flows when poured. Corn syrup has high viscosity and moves slowly while water has a low viscosity and flows quickly. Corn syrup is also an inexpensive, clear alternative to ingredients like glycerin, honey, or maple syrup. Psst…it can even be used to make DIY paint!

Vinegar has so many uses in science it’s almost impossible to touch on all of them. But here is why vinegar is so versatile: Vinegar is a taste safe, touch safe acid. Acids and bases are a cornerstone of chemistry projects and the acid most of us have on hand in some form at all times is vinegar. For kitchen science experiments I use white distilled vinegar because it is inexpensive and clear (save the balsamic and apple cider vinegar for cooking!). You can buy distilled white vinegar in gallon size jugs.

Other acids you might find in the kitchen are citric acid (lemon juice and Kool-aid), yogurt, molasses, apple sauce, and buttermilk.

Pro-tip: Vinegar is the best substance to use to clean up slime!

4. Baking Soda

If you want to experiment with acids (like vinegar) and bases you need a base, enter baking soda! Baking soda AKA sodium bicarbonate is considered a base , a substance that releases hydroxide ions in aqueous solutions. Bases are often bitter tasting and when they come into contact with acids they can form salts. For an in-depth look at bases hop over here.

Baking soda is utilized in baking because when it reacts with an acid it produces carbon dioxide gas which helps baked good rise and become light and fluffy. Wondering what the acidic ingredient is in baked goods that baking soda reacts with? It’s often brown sugar! That’s a surprise to even me!

I love baking soda so much I actually partnered with Arm and Hammer to do 5 science projects featuring baking soda.

Oil is a lipid , an organic compound that is hydrophobic, meaning it will not dissolve in water. Lipids include fats and waxes. Natural oils are created by plants and animals through metabolic processes so that living organisms can store energy for future use. Here’s a kid-friendly, in-depth look at lipids .

For kitchen science experiments, buy an inexpensive basic cooking oil like canola or vegetable oil. Save your nice olive oils for recipes!

Pro-Tip: Cooking oils can be used to clean and dissolve oil based materials. I’ve used it to clean oil pastels off plastic and beach tar off feet!

In chemistry a salt is a substance created by a chemical reaction between an acid and a base. Sodium chloride AKA table salt is the salt most of us use every day to enhance the flavor of food. Salts have some properties that make it perfect for use in kitchen science experiments: It dissolves in water and can be used to make crystals, it’s a wonderful conductor of electricity, and it can be used to make a super saturated liquid called brine which you can use for a variety of projects. Brine is used for pickling and preserving foods as well as to dissolve ice! Brine is also a favorite substance to use demonstrate buoyancy.

Bonus: Salt is also really fun to use in art projects like raised salt art and salt and watercolors .

Milk is an emulsion made up of fat and protein in water. An emulsion is an immiscible mixture of two liquids, meaning the materials cannot be blended together. Milk may seem like one substance but on a microscopic level the proteins and fats in it are separated. Because it’s an emulsion, when a substance like soap is introduced the fat molecules in milk are disturbed and move around.

The proteins in milk is called casein and is a polymer, whose properties can be used to turn milk into plastic!

8. Dishsoap

We know that oil and water don’t mix but what if there was a compound that attracted both water and oil? Lucky for the us there is, it’s called soap. Soap molecules have properties of both water and oil , and when you add them to a tub full of dirty dishes the soap molecules attract the fatty oil molecules on the dishes and then suspend that oil in water, helping remove the food from the dish. A simple science experiment would be to try to clean two oily dishes, one in a tub of water only, and one in a tub of soapy water. It will be very apparent how powerful that molecular attraction is! This is a fun article explaining the science at work doing dishes.

Detergent is considered a surfactant, a compound that reduces the surface tension between two liquids or between liquid and a solid. Soap also acts as an inhibitor in chemical reactions, slowing them down.

If you have ever baked bread you have seen (and eaten) a wonderful chemistry project! Baker’s yeast AKA Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a single cell fungi that converts starch and sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol through process called fermentation. Fermentation is responsible for baking bread that rises and making wine! You can read about yeast and the many ways it’s used in baking here. And for all my fellow nerdy adults (and teens) out there check out this fantastic explantation of the chemistry of baking bread!

In kitchen science experiments we typically use yeast to generate carbon dioxide gas which can be harnessed to blow up balloons or create seemingly endless eruptions like Elephant Toothpaste

10. Cornstarch

Last but definitely not least is the ingredient I stock up on every time I go to the restaurant supply store: Cornstarch. Cornstarch is made from the endosperm of corn. It is similar to flour but unlike flour is has been refined to the point that is contains only carbohydrates and no proteins. In cooking it is used to thicken sauces and batter some fried foods.

But the best thing about cornstarch is the substance you get when you add water to it. Cornstarch does not dissolve in water, instead it forms a colloid, a mixture in which a small particles of a substance are suspended throughout another substance but not chemically bonded. For this reason oobleck, AKA gak, goop, or slime (the combination of water + cornstarch) acts as solid when you add pressure to it, and a liquid when it’s left untouched.

If you only had to buy one ingredient and do one kitchen science experiment my top suggestion would be oobleck.

Kitchen Science Experiments for Kids

The science experiments below utilize our top 10 ingredients. You will be amazed at how many different experiments you can do with combinations of these versatile ingredients!

With these 10 ingredients you can do the following experiments:

Wizard's Brew

Baking Soda + Vinegar + Dishsoap

Ice Sculptures

Water + Food Coloring + Salt

DIY Lava Lamp 

Baking Soda + Water + Oil+ Food Coloring + Vinegar

Fizzing Hands

Diy bubble solution.

Water + Dish Soap + Corn Syrup

Layered Liquids

Water + Oil + Food Coloring+ Corn Syrup

How to Make Oobleck

Cornstarch + Water

Frozen Goop

Dish soap silly putty.

Dish Soap + Cornstarch

Shiny Pennies

Magic milk .

Milk + Food Coloring + Dish Soap

Fizzing Dino Eggs

Baking Soda + Vinegar

Hot Ice Science Experiment

Color mixing.

Water + Food Coloring

Tornado in a Jar  

Water + Dish Soap + Vinegar

Exploding Baggies

Vinegar + Baking Soda

Make Milk Plastic

Milk + Vinegar

Fireworks In A Jar

Food Coloring + Oil + Water

Blow Up a Balloon with Yeast

Yeast + Water + Sugar

How to Make Elephant Toothpaste

Yeast + Hydrogen Peroxide + Dish Soap

Ice Cube Rope | Science Experiment

Water + Salt

Walking Water Experiment

Food Coloring + Water

More Kitchen Ingredients for Science Experiments

Once you get started raiding the pantry for science experiment materials you won’t be able to stop! Here are more pantry and kitchen staples that can be used for science projects and some projects to try with them:

Dissolve egg shells in vinegar to make rubber eggs or make eggs float in brine !

Lemon Juice

Everyone’s favorite natural acid can be turned into Lemon Volcanoes , Lemon Batteries , and Invisible Ink .

Kool Aid contains citric acid which, like lemon juice, and vinegar, reacts with bases to create carbon dioxide. It’s also delicious. Try making a Harry Potter themed chemical reaction you can drink called Amortencia.

There is no cooler colloid to dig your fingers into than gelatin. This wobbly weird substance is impossible not to touch. This project is always a hit with our students!

Everyone loves a science experiment you can eat as dessert…like rock candy !

Combine pepper and soap in this classic experiment or watch static electricity in action with this one .

Make a pH indicator using red cabbage!

Whipping Cream

Turning whipping cream into butter and ice cream are two of the tastiest science experiments you can do at home!

No kid will turn down this Skittles science experiment or watching the Growing Gummy Bear experiment!

More Kitchen Science Experiments

Here are a few of our favorite books for more fun science experiments you can do at home:

And for more art and science project materials you can purchase at the grocery store head over here:

Spread creative ideas like wildfire: pin them.

June 10, 2013 at 9:15 am

What a great post, and thanks for the link love! I love the graphic of ingredients!

Ana Dziengel says

June 11, 2013 at 5:19 am

Thanks Marie! I love Make and Takes so I was thrilled to see you stopped by my little ‘ole blog 🙂

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• Plant Biology
• Human Biology
• Biology Cells Osmosis Experiment

Osmosis Experiment: Dissolving Egg Shells With Vinegar

How does osmosis keep you healthy.

Right now, as you read this, there are millions of things happening throughout your body. The food you ate just a bit ago is making its way through a watery slurry inside your stomach and small intestines. Your kidneys are working hard to excrete waste and extra water. The lacrimal glands near your eyes are secreting tears, which allow your eyelids to close without damaging your eyeballs. What’s one thing that all of these processes have in common? They all rely on osmosis: the diffusion of water from one place to another.

Osmosis factors heavily in each of these processes and is an important force for keeping every single cell in your body healthy. Osmosis is hard to see without a microscope. But if we create our very own model of a cell, using a shell-less chicken egg, we can see what happens when we manipulate the osmotic balance in the “cell”!

• 3 glasses (large enough to fit the egg plus liquid)
• 3 butter knives
• White vinegar (about 3 cups)
• Distilled water (about 2 cups)
• Light corn syrup (about 1 ¼ cups)
• Slotted spoon
• Measuring cup (1 cup)
• Measuring spoons (1 tablespoon and ½ tablespoon)
• Sticky notes and marker
• Scale (optional)

Note : It’s okay to touch the eggs, but remember to wash your hands afterwards to avoid any nasty surprises!

1. Place one egg in each glass. Pour in enough vinegar to cover each egg. Bubbles will start to form around the egg, and it’ll float up. To keep it submerged, put a butter knife in the glass to hold it down.

2. Put the three glasses in the refrigerator and allow to sit for 24 hours.

3. Gently holding the egg in the glass, pour out the old vinegar. Replace with fresh vinegar, and let sit in the refrigerator for another 24 hours. Repeat this process until the shells are fully dissolved and only the membrane remains. This should take about 2-3 days.

4. Gently remove the eggs using the slotted spoon and rinse with tap water in the sink. Rinse out the empty glasses as well.

5. Gently put the shell-less eggs aside for a moment on a plate.

6. Prepare three different sugar-water solutions as follows, labeling with sticky notes:

Glass 1: Label “hypertonic”. Pour in one cup of corn syrup.

Glass 2: Label “isotonic”. Add 1 ½ tablespoons corn syrup to the one cup measuring cup, and fill the remainder with distilled water. Pour into glass (make sure you get all the corn syrup out!) and stir to dissolve.

Glass 3: Label “hypotonic”. Pour in one cup of distilled water. Gently put one shell-less egg in each of the glasses, and let sit in the refrigerator for another 24 hours.

7. Remove the glasses from the refrigerator, and gently put the eggs on a plate. If you weighed the eggs before putting them in each solution, weigh them again. What happened to each of the eggs?

How does osmosis work?

Osmosis is the scientific term that describes how water flows to different places depending on certain conditions. In this case, water moves around to different areas based on a concentration gradient , i.e. solutions which have different concentrations of dissolved particles ( solutes ) in them. Water always flows to the area with the most dissolved solutes, so that in the end both solutions have an equal concentration of solutes. Think about if you added a drop of food dye to a cup of water – even if you didn’t stir it, it would eventually dissolve on its own into the water.

In biological systems, the different solutions are usually separated by a semipermeable membrane , like cell membranes or kidney tubules . These act sort of like a net that keeps solutes trapped, but they still allow water to pass through freely. In this way, cells can keep all of their “guts” contained but still exchange water.

Now, think about the inside of an egg. There’s a lot of water inside of the egg, but a lot of other things (i.e. solutes) too, like protein and fat. When you placed the egg in the three solutions, how do you think the concentration of solutes differed between the inside of the egg and outside of the egg? The egg membrane acts as a semipermeable membrane and keeps all of the dissolved solutes separated but allows the water to pass through.

How did osmosis make the eggs change size (or not)?

If the steps above work out properly, the results should be as follows.

In the case of the hypertonic solution, there were more solutes in the corn syrup than there were in the egg. So, water flowed out of the egg and into the corn syrup, and as a result the egg shriveled up.

In the case of the isotonic solution, there was roughly an equal amount of solutes in the corn syrup/water solution than there was in the egg, so there was no net movement in or out of the egg. It stayed the same size.

In the case of the hypotonic solution, there were more solutes in the egg than in the pure water. So, water flowed into the egg, and as a result, it grew in size.

Osmosis and You

Every cell in your body needs the right amount of water inside of it to keep its shape, produce energy, get rid of wastes, and other functions that keep you healthy.

This is why medicines that are injected into patients need to be carefully designed so that the solution has the same concentration of solutes as their cells (i.e. isotonic). If you were sick and became dehydrated, for example, you would get a 0.90% saline IV drip. If it were too far off from this mark it wouldn’t be isotonic anymore, and your blood cells might shrivel up or even explode , depending on the concentration of dissolved solutes in the water.

Osmosis works just the same way in your cells as it does in our egg “cell” model. Thankfully, though, the semipermeable membrane of the egg is much stronger, so you don’t have to worry about the egg exploding as well!

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Lindsay graduated with a master’s degree in wildlife biology and conservation from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She also spent her time in Alaska racing sled dogs, and studying caribou and how well they are able to digest nutrients from their foods. Now, she enjoys sampling fine craft beers in Fort Collins, Colorado, knitting, and helping to inspire people to learn more about wildlife, nature, and science in general.

• Basic Types of Cells
• Cell Organelles
• Connective Tissue Cells
• Epithelial Cells
• Introduction to Cells
• Muscle Cells
• Nerve Cells
• Osmosis Experiment
• Structure of the Cell Nucleus
• Structures of the Cell Cytoplasm

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Try This: Make a Bouncy Egg

Looking for an egg-cellent way to explore osmosis and acid-base chemical reactions? This is a fun kitchen activity that takes time, not thyme, and a couple of things you can probably find at home.

Here’s what you need:

• A glass or jar
• Time — This activity will take about two days! You’ll only need to spend a couple minutes with it each day. The chemical reaction will take some time, though.
• To take this activity further, you’ll also need corn syrup. You might not think you have any in your pantry, but don’t give up so soon — many pancake syrups are made of corn syrup. If you’re not a maple syrup-purist, you might be in luck! Food coloring is also a fun addition.

Here’s what you do:

1. Fill a jar with vinegar, and gently place a whole raw egg inside. Don’t crack the egg! Watch as bubbles immediately form around the egg!

2. Wait 24 hours, then replace the vinegar with new vinegar. When discarding the used vinegar, be careful with the egg. Has the egg changed in any way?

3. Wait another 24 hours. Carefully remove the egg from the vinegar. What do you notice about the egg now? Can you gently bounce it? 

What’s happening:

The shell of an egg is made of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is chemically a base , or has a higher ph than 7. Ph, which stands for the power of hydrogen, is used to indicate how acidic or basic something is.

Something that is neither acidic or basic, like pure water, has a ph of 7. Pure water is neutral . If something has a ph greater than 7, it is said to be basic. An example of a base around your home is baking soda. Vinegar has ph far lower than 7, so it’s an acid.

When acids and bases meet, there’s a chemical reaction called a neutralization reaction because the two differing things move closer to neutral. In the case of the vinegar and eggshell, you may have noticed that bubbles began forming as soon as the two met. 

Over the course of 24 hours you may have also noticed less and less bubbles forming as the acid and base both got closer to neutral. This is why the vinegar needed to be replaced. You likely noticed a considerable change in the look and feel of the egg as well. The bubbles being formed in this reaction are carbon dioxide gas.

As the reaction continues the shell of the egg will completely dissolve. The membrane of the egg, found under the shell, won’t dissolve! Instead it will let some of the vinegar solution pass into the egg through a process called osmosis , and the egg will slightly swell in size. This reaction makes the egg become somewhat rubbery!

Take the experiment further! You’ll need two more items — corn syrup and a metal spoon.

After emptying the vinegar from the jar, place the egg back in and cover it with corn syrup. Gently place the spoon on top of the egg to keep it submerged. Wait 48 hours and use the spoon to retrieve the egg. Rinse it with water. You now have a shriveled up egg! This was done through osmosis, but this time the liquid water left the inside of the egg and traveled through the membrane to the surrounding syrup.

If you decide to make another bouncy egg, what would happen if you put food coloring in the vinegar? Show us your results with #SMOatHome.

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Stay-at-Home Science

Fun and engaging science projects for young kids

EGGSperiment: The Bouncing Egg

This activity has been done in every science classroom in the country, but that is because it is SO COOL. And you can do it right in your own kitchen just in time for Easter with materials you already have in your fridge and pantry.  Everyone in the family will love experimenting with ‘the bouncing egg’ and you will never look at Easter egg decorating the same again!

LEARN SCIENCE VOCABULARY:

Yolk –  the yellow part inside the egg. It is there to feed a growing embryo IF the egg was fertilized ( eggs from the grocery store are NOT fertilized and cannot hatch into a chick! ).

Membrane – the very thin covering under the shell of an egg. Our skin is also a membrane, and there are also thinner membranes lining our internal organs.

Osmosis – the process of a liquid ( like water) moving through a membrane to create equal concentrations of materials on both sides.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

• Eggs ( brown eggs are fun to use because the darker color of the shell helps you see it as it comes off )
• White vinegar
• Cups ( just large enough for your egg )
• Food coloring
• Corn Syrup ( optional )

HOW TO MAKE IT: (Don’t be too shocked at how easy this is to do…)

• Let the egg sit for about 48 hours ( or longer…some say to change the vinegar after a day, but I was too busy to remember that and the eggs turned out fine anyway! )  Have the kids check it periodically and make observations ( use senses of sight, smell and touch ) about what is happening to the egg.  What do they think will happen to the egg when all of the shell is removed?

• Have kids make observations about the egg and the MEMBRANE that holds it together.  You will also be able to see the YOLK fairly clearly inside, especially if you hold the egg up to a light.

GOING FURTHER: 

You can color your naked eggs by placing them into a cup of water tinted with food coloring.  After about 6 hours take your eggs out and see their vibrant colors!  The colored water has actually permeated through the egg MEMBRANE through the process of OSMOSIS, coloring the inside of the egg as well.

If you want to keep going with this awesome activity, put your naked and colorful eggs into a cup and cover them with corn syrup.  Let them sit overnight and observe what happens!

The water from inside the egg has moved out into the cup through the process of OSMOSIS.  You will be able to see the water floating on top of the corn syrup in the cup.

AND THEN… you can turn them back into big rubbery eggs by soaking them in water again!  The fun seriously never ends with this one.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT:

Removing the Shell : Vinegar ( a.k.a. acetic acid if you want to get science-y ) breaks down the eggshell ( made of a material called calcium carbonate ) through a chemical reaction that releases Carbon Dioxide gas ( which you can see in the form of bubbles coming off the egg as soon as it hits the vinegar ).  This is very similar to how acidic food and drinks can break down tooth enamel over time!  [Check out  Bubbly Designs: a baking soda and vinegar activity  if you want to learn more about chemical reactions with vinegar.].

Coloring, Growing, and Shrinking the Egg : The egg will get bigger and absorb color as it soaks in the cup of colored water because some of the water from the vinegar is moving into the egg through the its MEMBRANE ( this is called OSMOSIS) .  Water will move in or out of a MEMBRANE in order to equalize the concentrations of salts and other materials on both sides of that MEMBRANE.  Because corn syrup has a high concentration of these materials, the water from inside the egg moves out of the MEMBRANE and into the cup of corn syrup, causing the egg to appear shrunken and wrinkly! When you put it back in a cup of clear water, OSMOSIS works the other way and water moves back into the egg.

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7 comments add yours.

Oh my, this looks like a fun and teachable experiment! Will surely do it this weekend 💜 http://www.babblingbeautyblog.com

Thanks for your comment! Get your eggs soaking now so they are bouncing by the weekend! :). And post some pics on how it goes…

Ohhh this looks so cool and fun, but I am vegan..I don’t think I bring myself to use an egg this way. Maybe I can track down a farmer who I know treats his chickens well and give it a shot, haha.

This is experiment is so cool. I can’t wait until my kids get old enough to try it with them.

Thanks for your comment! I would say by 3 years old they can follow directions well enough to bounce the eggs and enjoy watching them grow and shrink…just be sure you can keep the mess contained, because when the eggs finally pop it can get a bit gross! 🙂

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We’re almost there, my kiddos are 1 & 2. I think I would enjoy doing it now in my own lol.

This looks so fun! I never got to do this school but I’ll definitely try this out when my daughter is a little older. Thanks for sharing at #fridayfrivolity! Xx

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Easy Egg Chemistry

Introduction: Easy Egg Chemistry

Here are a few things that you can easily do at home with eggs to explore Chemistry and Biology. I originally saw this experiment done while I was in Biology, however I didn't understand what was going on until I was in Chemistry.

These are safe to do at home and could be a fun thing to do with children, either just for fun or a fun way of explaining diffusion or how a cell works (more on these later). Here I will show not only the setup of the original experiment that I saw, I will include the extra step that I did out of curiosity. So, here is a list of the things that I used for this experiment.

• Vinegar - any vinegar should work, I used white vinegar.
• Egg(s) - the number of eggs you use will depend on the number of things you are testing (more on this later). I ended up using more than I was testing, so it is best to have a few extras.
• Containers - you should have a container for each of the things you are testing plus one for the vinegar. The container for the vinegar should be large enough to fit all the eggs in at once.
• Water - I used the water for two tests but you could do it by itself.
• Salt - this was the extra step I took to see what would happen.
• Corn syrup/sugar water/any syrup - I used corn syrup but I believe the first time I saw this experiment they had used imitation maple syrup (the cheap kind for pancakes).
• Gloves (optional) - these are not needed but it may make your life easier during cleanup.

At the end I will discuss what is going on and how you could make this experiment your own, for all of those who are interested. I know not everyone is interested in reading how they can take the experiment one step further while also reading how to do the experiment.

Step 1: Making "Naked Eggs"

The first step is to take all the eggs you are going to experiment with and prepare them. Eggs are made up of several different things, the first layer is a shell made up of calcium carbonate; the second layer is a thin membrane made of keratin; inside the membrane is the egg white, the yolk, and an air pocket. In this step we are going to remove the shell but leave the membrane and everything in the membrane intact.

First, find a container to put all your eggs in. Then pour your vinegar into the container being sure to cover all the eggs with about an inch or so extra vinegar. After you pour in the vinegar it becomes a waiting game, walk away and do something else. If you think of it you can occasionally stir the eggs around gently. You will notice there are bubbles forming and possibly a white foam at the top, the bubble are CO2 and the foam is from the shells dissolving in the vinegar (more on that at the end).

I would leave these overnight to do this while mixing them whenever I walk by. If you feel the need, you could refrigerate this setup but keep in mind it could take a lot longer to finish. Also if you would like to reduce the vinegar smell you could wrap the top off the container with plastic wrap.

After you are done with dissolving the egg shell, you can either go to the next step immediately or you can store your eggs in the fridge until you are ready to move on. That being said, I'm not sure how long these eggs will last.

The pictures in order are as follows. A top view of an egg in vinegar, a bottle with the top cut off with two eggs in the vinegar (later I changed this to only have one egg as it worked better with only one egg per container), the foam produced from the process, an egg with the shell fully dissolved but still covered with a white powder that I was washing off, two eggs with their shells fully dissolved (one before cleaning the white powder cleaned off and one after), an egg with the shell and white powder completely removed, just the membrane of the egg (after making a mistake, I popped the egg).

*When handling the eggs make sure the skin stays moist* If the membrane drys, the egg can and probably will pop. I learned this the hard way.

Step 2: Experiment

Here is the time to have some fun, it is another waiting game but the results are really cool. I experimented with water, salt water, and corn syrup. I used tap water because I didn't have any distilled water on hand, that being said my tap water results could be different than the distilled water results (I may do this later). The process is the same for each experiment so just repeat the process for each.

Take a container and put one of the naked eggs in it, then pour the substance that you are testing into the container making sure to completely cover the egg with about an inch of extra fluid. If you have multiple substances that look alike (i.e. salt water and water) it might be a good idea to label the containers, this is especially true if you want to know for sure what each substance does to the egg.

Then you wait, you can check back in an hour, a day, or a week. The only things to keep in mind are the facts that the egg could go bad if you leave it out too long, if you don't wait long enough there might not be a noticeable difference, and finally there is a point at which the process will stop.

I made an interesting observation while doing this experiment: if you look at the picture, the egg on the right (in corn syrup) has this swirly effect over the top. This is caused by there being two different densities of liquid, the water in or around the egg is trying to float to the top (because it is less dense) and that is what you are seeing.

Step 3: Clean-up

The worst part of almost any experiment. To dispose of the liquids you tested, you can just wash those down the drain. Keep in mind that vinegar is acidic, so when washing it down the drain it may be a good idea to use a lot of water to do so. Also keep in mind that if the substance you used is not a household material that you should check if it is okay to wash it down the drain, some substances are illegal to do so with. And as for the eggs, I put the eggs in a container and used a knife to pop them then flushed then down the toilet. I mostly did it that way because I didn't want to deal with trying to wash the yolks down the drain and the garbage was just taken out so I didn't want to have to smell rotten eggs later.

Step 4: Results

I want to start this off by saying that my results were a little unexpected. I was expecting the egg in the water to become slightly bigger, the one in salt water to give up some of the water inside the membrane and become somewhat empty, and the one in corn syrup to be the same as the salt water.

The first picture shows all the egg side by side, including the one which was only in vinegar.

The next picture shows the egg that was just in vinegar, as you can see it doesn't have a shell but otherwise is the same size and shape as an egg.

The next picture is of the egg I soaked in water. Though you may not be able to tell from the picture, the egg is more round and swollen than it was before it was in the water. As a side note, this egg was also a little more firm than the rest.

The next picture is of the egg that was soaked in salt water. This gave me an unexpected result, I though the egg would deflate. The egg deflated a very small amount but not nearly as much as I thought it would. I think the confusing result was caused by the fact that I put this in the fridge, when the water got cold it was unable to dissolve as much salt as it would be able to while warm.

the last picture shows the egg that was soaked in corn syrup. This was the egg that left me waiting for longer than expected. This did exactly as I expected, but took far longer than intended. As a side note, describing the feeling of holding this egg in your hand is beyond words but interestingly the yolk was hard; if anyone know why the yolk becomes hard from this, please let me know as I am very interested in knowing.

Step 5: What Is Going On? - Dissolving the Shell

During the first part, we put the whole egg in vinegar and after a while the egg shell was gone. This process happens because the shell is made up of calcium carbonate which is a base and vinegar contains acetic acid. Calcium carbonate and baking soda share a similar reaction when it comes into contact with vinegar. The vinegar breaks down the calcium carbonate crystals and the calcium ions are free to dissolve into the water/vinegar. This releases CO2 (from the "carbonate" part), those are the bubbles you see forming on the surface of the shell. The inside of the shell has a membrane made from keratin (the protein in human hair), this doesn't get dissolved by the vinegar. So you remove the shell without harming the membrane or anything in the membrane.

Step 6: Whats Going On? - the Tests

The process that takes place when you put the naked eggs into the different liquids is called diffusion but it can be explained by comparing it to a process called osmosis (or something very similar).

Osmosis is the process that a cell uses to transport water in and out of its membrane without using any energy. This could easily be used as a demo for how a cell works. In fact, an egg is very similar to a cell: a cell has a membrane, doesn't use energy to transport water in and out of it, and has a nucleus (the yolk). The cell doesn't have to use any energy because the membrane is made of a semi-permeable membrane, a substance that has small holes in the surface that are small enough for water molecules to enter but nothing that is larger can get in.

Diffusion is the process in which a high concentration of a substance tries to spread to lower concentrations. A good example of this process would be taking a glass of water and carefully adding a drop of food coloring without disturbing the water. Once the drop has been added to the water, the drop will slowly start to spread. The drop spreads from the high concentration (where it first entered the water) to the lower concentration (where there is no food coloring).

Step 7: Taking This a Step Farther

You could easily continue experimenting with different substances. I chose the liquids I did because I had everything I needed. You could try water/distilled water, then add food coloring or salt to see if that changes the results. You could also try honey or shampoo. Really, you could try any liquid that you could submerge the egg in. If anyone tries something, feel free to let everyone know what you tried (extra points if its something odd). Also if anyone tries this, please post pictures in the comments.

Step 8: Resources

While I was making this I decided to look up this experiment and found these three links, all from the same website.

• The anatomy of an egg:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/eggcomposition.html

• Making naked eggs:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/eggs/activity-naked.html

• Naked egg experiments: