“Silver eggshell” experiment

A neat ex­per­i­ment that will amaze chil­dren and adults alike

Reagents and equip­ment:

• eggshell;
• can­dle;
• lighter.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Burn the eggshell in the can­dle flame. For con­ve­nience, you can put a stick into the hole through which the yolk and egg white were re­moved. Low­er the shell into a glass of wa­ter.

Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion

Paraf­fins are wax­like alka­nes with a com­po­si­tion from C18 to C35. Can­dles are made from paraf­fins. On com­plete com­bus­tion of paraf­fins, car­bon diox­ide and wa­ter form. But if you place an ob­ject over the can­dle flame, the ac­cess of oxy­gen will be re­strict­ed, and the paraf­fin will be sub­ject to in­com­plete com­bus­tion, with the for­ma­tion of soot, which con­sists of coal and var­i­ous tars, car­bon diox­ide and wa­ter. The soot that forms cov­ers the sur­face of the eggshell, and if the burnt shell is placed in wa­ter, it turns sil­ver. The soot re­pels the wa­ter and cov­ers the egg with a thin lay­er of air, which re­flects light rays, thus mak­ing the egg look sil­ver.

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Ob­serve safe­ty rules when work­ing with fire

Warn­ing! Only un­der pro­fes­sion­al su­per­vi­sion.