"Rubber Egg" experiment

How to dissolve an eggshell

You can do this in­ter­est­ing ex­per­i­ment at home with the kids or with your friends!

Reagents and equip­ment:

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Place the eggs in the glass­es and cov­er them with vine­gar. Leave them for at least six hours, un­til the shells dis­solve com­plete­ly. The dis­solv­ing time de­pends on the thick­ness of the shell.

Pro­cess­es de­scrip­tion

Eggshells con­tain cal­ci­um car­bon­ate, which eas­i­ly dis­solves in vine­gar with the re­lease of car­bon diox­ide:

СаСО₃ + 2СН₃СООН = Са(СН₃СОО)₂ + СО₂ + Н₂О

Only a film re­mains which stops the egg from leak­ing and makes it like a rub­ber ball!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

For hy­gien­ic rea­sons, wear rub­ber gloves when wash­ing the eggs.

Warn­ing! Only un­der pro­fes­sion­al su­per­vi­sion.

Try it