Egg and Vinegar Experiment
By: Darshil Patel and Shivam
Gandhi
6th Period Biology
Purpose/Question
What happens when an egg is put inside
vinegar with food coloring in it? Can an
egg survive a drop after it absorbs the
vinegar?
Materials
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Egg
Beaker
Vinegar
Food coloring (any color)
Something to write on
Research/ hypothesis
Hypothesis: Through data from a prior experiment, we have learned that the egg will absorb some
of the vinegar with food coloring in it. The egg will also lose its shell due to the acidic nature of the
vinegar and will only retain a calcium coating. The reason the egg absorbed some of the vinegar
is due to osmosis.
Research:
1. The egg’s shell is made up of calcium carbonate. Because of acids, the egg shell will dissolve
and give off carbon dioxide.
2. Osmosis is the movement of fluids through a permeable surface. The egg’s shell is a
permeable surface
3. The egg is just a giant cell. The shell is the cell membrane. The egg white is the cytoplasm. The
yolk is the nucleus.
Sources:
1. http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/eggshell-composition.shtml
2. http://physioweb.uvm.edu/bodyfluids/osmosis.htm
3. 6th period biology.
Procedure
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Fill the beaker with 200mL of vinegar and pour the food coloring in.
Put the egg inside of the vinegar to officially begin the experiment.
Record all observations. (See what happens to the shell, the vinegar, and the
coloring.)
Leave the egg in a room at room temperature for one day, out of light.
When you come back, record what changes have happened to the egg, the
vinegar, and the volume of the vinegar.
See if the egg has retained its shell and if its color has changed to the food
coloring’s color.
Take the egg out and make observations on its texture, weight, etc.
Proceed to analysis.
200 mL
vinegar
egg
Observations/ Data
1. At the beginning of the
experiment
2. After the experiment
3. The egg drop
- There’s still foam on the surface
- The egg couldn’t survive a 3
foot drop
- The vinegar is dissolving the
- The egg is floating
carbon off of the shell,
therefore, bubbles are leaving
the surface
- Something is coming out of the
side of the egg
- There is foam on the surface
- There is much less vinegar than
before (130mL)
- The egg began to float and
sink randomly, possibly due to
the carbon dioxide lifting it
The egg outside
- The food coloring surrounded
the surface of the egg
- There is no shell on it, only a thin
paper-like coating
- The egg has turned green
- There is dark green dirt on the
top of the egg, with light green
skin underneath
- It smells like vinegar
- The yolk and egg white came
out, but the membrane stayed in
one piece
- The inside of the egg was
liquefied
Pictures
Conclusion
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I agree with my hypothesis. The egg did absorb the vinegar. This is clearly shown
because the ending volume of the vinegar was 130mL instead of the original
200mL.
The egg became the same color as the vinegar. This is due to osmosis. There was
also no shell on the egg due to the vinegar dissolving it. The egg also smells like
vinegar due to the fact that it absorbed vinegar.
There were many variables that couldn’t be controlled in the test. First, the beaker
of vinegar could have had an immeasurable amount of light, which means that
some of the vinegar could have been evaporated. We could have also pu too
much or too little vinegar in.