Folding Egg
The Folding Egg activity is actually an extension of the classic
Rubber Egg experiment with a really fun twist. Just imagine the
look on your friends' faces when you show them an egg and then
proceed to fold it in half several times until it forms a small white
ball! Wait... it gets better. Just bounce the "folded egg" between your
hands and the egg reappears.
Materials
•Raw egg
•Pin or a thumb tack
•Tall glass
•Vinegar
•Patience
1.The first step is the trickiest and requires a little practice. You'll
need to blow out the inside of the egg without damaging the egg
(too much!). Use a sharp pin, a thumb tack or the tip of a sharp
knife (yes, with the help of an adult) to poke a small hole in both
ends of the egg. The hole should be about an 1/8 of an inch in
diameter. Don't be frustrated if you crack a few eggs before you get
the hang of it.
2.The next step is to scramble the inside of the egg - to break the
yellow yolk - and to blow the liquid out through one of the holes. The
best way to break the yolk is to poke a long needle or something
similar (like a plastic coffee stirrer) through the hole and to carefully
poke around in order to break the yolk. Once the yolk is broken and
the egg is "scrambled", it's time to blow all of the liquid out of the
egg. One method is to clean off one end of the egg, cover the hole
with your mouth and blow the egg liquid out the other hole. Of
course, it's best to hold the egg over the sink as you're doing this.
People who are concerned about using their mouth many
experiment with other methods or may elect not to try the activity.
3.Place the hollow egg in a tall glass or jar and cover the egg with
vinegar. You want the egg to be completely submerged in the
vinegar which means that you may need to place something on top
of the egg to push it down or to try to fill the inside of the egg with
vinegar to weight it down. (In the video Steve uses 3 M HCl to speed
up the process.)
4.Leave the egg in the vinegar for about 10 days or until all of the
shell has dissolved. What you'll be left with is the translucent
membrane of the egg. For the first few days, bubbles of carbon
dioxide gas will form on the shell. The vinegar is dissolving with the
calcium carbonate in the shell and producing bubbles of carbon
dioxide at the same time. When the bubbles stop forming, it's a
good indication that the egg shell is completely dissolved.
5.After 10 days pour off the vinegar and carefully rinse the egg with
water. The egg looks translucent because the outside shell is
gone! The only thing that remains is the delicate membrane of the
egg. You've successfully made an egg without a shell. Okay, you
didn't really make the egg the chicken made the egg and you just
stripped away the chemical that gives the egg its strength.
6.Carefully squeeze out all of the water from the egg membrane.
Gently blow a little air into one end of the egg and the egg will puff
up. Hey, it looks like a real egg! Slowly squeeze the egg in your
hand and it will look like you crushed the egg. Drop the egg in a tall,
clear glass. Cover the top of the glass with your hand and shake
the glass. Air will slowly work it's way into the egg and it will look
like the egg magically restored itself.
7.A Dusting of Baby Powder - That's right... dust the egg membrane
with some baby powder (sometimes called Talcum powder). Try to
get some of the powder inside the egg as well. The powder will
help keep the egg membrane from drying out and cracking - and it
makes the egg look even more real.
8.A Little Magician's Secret - The Folding Egg is a classic science
magic trick dating back to the early 1900's. To perform the illusion,
the magician would place the inflated egg in an egg carton along
with several real eggs. He carefully removed the "special" egg and
proceeded to squeeze the egg in his hand. With a little slight of
hand, the egg appeared to magically vanish. The magician then
showed his audience a clear, empty glass. While showing the
glass, he secretly dropped the crumpled up egg membrane into
the glass being careful to cover the bottom of the glass with his
other hand. "I'll make the egg magically appear by simply shaking
the glass." With a little shaking an lots of showmanship, the
audience watched as the egg magically reappeared in the glass.
That's amazing!
Experiment by Steve Spangler Science
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