Chemical Science Projects Using Eggs

Quick Take

This is the second in a series of science projects for eighth grade. Students will find out how to remove an eggs shell without peeling it with their hands.

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Lesson:

Teach this experiment when your students are learning about chemicals. This experiment demonstrates how chemicals can affect an object, as well as which chemicals are acidic.

Teach:

Teach your students that it is possible to get an egg shell off without using your hands. There are chemicals that can take the shell off for you. Tell students that they are going to participate in an experiment to find out which chemicals are too weak, and which chemicals will do the job and remove the egg shell.

Materials:

Several eggs
Pot
Water
Stove
Vinegar
Soda
Apple juice
Pineapple juice
Six clear glasses
Vegetable Oil
Notebooks
Pencils

Procedure:

Put a pot of water on the stove in the school’s kitchen and boil a dozen eggs. You only need six for the experiment, but you want to make sure you have six that aren’t cracked in any way.
Ask for six student volunteers. Have each one place an egg in a clear glass. Give each student a different liquid and tell them to pour enough liquid in to the glass that the egg is completely covered. The liquids that should be used are water, vegetable oil, vinegar, soda, apple juice, and pineapple juice. Make sure the glasses are labeled properly to identify the liquid used.
Have students write a hypothesis in their notebooks. This hypothesis should list which liquids if any at all that they believe are going to remove the egg’s shell. Students should also list in their hypothesis why they think the liquids are going to have an effect on the egg’s shell.
Wait five to seven days before removing the eggs from their solutions. Take each egg out one at a time to examine it and write the results in the notebooks.

Review:

Compare the liquids that took the egg shells off to the liquids that had no effect on the egg shell. Did the students notice any common factors? Talk to the students about acid and the liquids that contain acid. Ask the students to share their hypothesis with the class and whether their hypothesis turned out to be right or wrong. Ask the students if any part of this project surprised them.