Experiment: Squishy Eggs

Experiment: Squishy Eggs

You will need

  • White vinegar
  • 2 eggs: 1 hardboiled, 1 raw
  • Spoon, large enough to fit an egg on it
  • Jar

What to do

1.  Carefully place your eggs in the jar, being mindful of how fragile they are.

2.  Pour white vinegar into the jar so it completely covers both eggs.

3.  Let the eggs sit in the white vinegar for 24 hours. Don't put a lid on it - it might pop off!

4.  After 48 hours, pour out the vinegar along with the eggs. Once again, be careful, as the eggs are fragile.

5.  You can now play with your shell-less eggs! Try squeezing them softly and notice how squishy they are.

What's happening?

When an egg is submerged in white vinegar the shell breaks down and dissolves. This is due to the acetic acid in vinegar. This acid breaks down the calcium carbonate in the egg shell, leaving the soft inner membrane intact.

After an hour or so, you will notice bubbles forming on the egg that float to the surface. These bubbles are carbon dioxide, released from the carbonate in the eggshells. In time, the bubbles will stop forming as there is no more egg shell to dissolve.

The raw egg can be very fragile - a small break in the membrane will allow the egg to leak out. The boiled egg should be more resilient as it is solid all the way through!


Limestone caves are found around the world. They form when limestone (calcium carbonate) dissolves in acidic water. Water becomes slightly acidic when it combines with carbon dioxide from the soil and air to form carbonic acid. This is a different acid to the acetic acid in vinegar, but works much the same way. The limestone in the land dissolves and is washed away by the water. This leaves a cave.

More information

Make a glowing bouncy egg (video)

This article first appeared in CSIRO's Science by Email. (Text and images by Hugo Taylor.)
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