Bleach-Egg

Intro: Bleach-Egg

Happy Easter, everyone!

Here in Austria white eggs are rare. And usually they are bad quality.

The average egg is dark-brown. Not so good for painting on it...

So I decided to make a small experiment.

Since I am studying to be a teacher, I also have a course about science-teaching.

Kids are supposed to understand the world of science and how a scientist works.

So we were supposed to think about a small experiment we could make with the kids in class.

My group wanted something new, something exciting. And it should be doable in one hour.

So I sat down and thought hard, and remembered my experiment with the vinegar-egg...

Vinegar-eggs are eggs you put in vinegar, until the hard shell is fully dissolved. Very fun, but takes forever...

So I thought... what about only putting the egg into vinegar for a smaller period of time.

I did so... And that was the result:

STEP 1: What You Will Need

All you need is:

A dark-coloured egg

A bowl or glass, big enough for sour egg to fit in

Vinegar

STEP 2: Let's Get Started

Put the egg into your bowl or glass.

Pour vinegar over the egg, until it is covered.

Wait.

STEP 3: Result

After half an hour my egg was really pale.

I took it out and washed it with water.

The egg has a thinner shell, so be careful with it.

You can still eat it. The vinegar has no influence on the taste. (As long as you haven't waited too long)

Now you can paint or dye it, leave it like that, cook it, whatever...

STEP 4: The Reason This Works

The reason behind this experiment is that the egg-shell is made our of chalk.

Chalk dissolves in acid.

In Austria we have a lot of chalk in our mountains. Therefor the acid rain doesn't pollute our water-reservoirs, because the chalk in the mountains neutralizes the acid in the rain.

The acid in the vinegar is enough to soften and dissolve the chalk of the eggshell.

Have fun with this experiment!

If you like it, please vote for me in the Egg-Contest!

Thank you!

Comments

[always curious]

WHITE BOILED EGGS- I tried boiling the raw brown eggs in water plus about 1/2 cup white vinegar. Came back after about 10 minutes, saw lot of foam in saucepan. Rinsed with cold water and washed eggs- a couple were really white, whilst the other 2 were very slightly blotched but still what I would consider white!. Now I can get "rough" with decorating. If I had stood at the stove and removed the browny foam, I am sure the eggs would have come out ever whiter.

Thanks again for tip and science lesson.

[Miryl]

I'm glad you like it and thanks for sharing your idea! I never thought about boiling the eggs with vinegar. I'm glad it worked so well for you! :D

[always curious]

Just what I need for Easter Egg decorations. Also only brown eggs here - so thank you. Just wanted to ask - if I boiled the eggs first, then used the vinegar, would they turn white? Or must it be with raw eggs? Of course to save a reply etc., I can simply boil a couple of eggs and then try the vinegar soak!

boil the

[leahblackwolf]

cool, would be great for easter eggs

[jeanniel1]

How ironic, as we used to use dye in vinegar to color the eggs! Ha ha ha!

[Miryl]

Well, it works with the same principle.

The vinegar softens the eggshell, so the dye can transfer into it more easily.