Eggsperiments

Make an uncooked egg bounce.

two young girls leaning over a table looking at an unpeeled egg floating in a glass jar
Viola and Elodie looking at their experimental egg, Image credit: The Royal Institution

Aims

Make an uncooked egg bounce!

ExpeRiment with different liquids to see what effect they have on eggs.

Learn how the acid in household liquids like orange juice and vinegar react with eggshells and make them dissolve, leaving the inside of the egg intact.

About this activity

Olympia and her daughters, Viola and Elodie investigate what effects different liquids have on an egg. They discover that some don’t cause large changes while others make the shell dissolve altogether. In this simple, and a bit messy, science experiment they learn that although liquids might look the same, they can be very different inside. They see what happens when they drop the egg after they’ve dissolved its shell. Will it bounce? 

If you don't want to use up an egg for this activity, it can be done with just the shell of an egg - simply put pieces of empty egg shell in the liquids and see what happens.

The Royal Institution is closed 19 March

The Ri is closed this week on Tuesday 19 March.