Egg in a Bottle Teresa Glass

Author

Teresa Glass

Principle(s) Illustrated

1. Air Pressure

2. Density

3. vacuum

Standards

Questioning Script

Prior knowledge & experience:

The egg may or may not fit in the bottle

Root question:

Will lighting a candle in the bottle help the egg go into it?

Target response:

The egg should go into the bottle

Common Misconceptions:

The heat might make the egg smaller

Procedure

1.Peel a hard boiled egg, set it on the mouth of the glass bottle, and verify that it won't easily squeeze through.

2. Cut a thick slice of banana as your "candle holder". Stick a candle into the banana slice and drop it in the bottle so the candle is pointing up.

3. Light the candle and set the egg on the bottle so that if forms a tight seal. Wait for the candle to go out and see what happens.

Flipped Protocol

1. Put two birthday candles in the end of a hard-boiled egg.

2. Light the candles and hold them under the inverted bottle to warm the air inside.

3. Hold your bottle upside down and put the candle end of the egg up into the bottle so it forms a seal.Continue to hold the egg until the candle goes out and the egg is pushed into the bottle by atmospherc pressure which is the weight of the wir pushing on the egg.

Explanation:

Why does the egg slide into the bottle, even though no one is pushing it? Because the pressure of the air is pushing it. Before the burning paper was put into the bottle, the pressure of the air inside the bottle was the same as outside the bottle. The burning paper, however, heats the air inside the bottle. This causes the air inside to expand. When the egg is placed on top of the bottle, it seals the bottle, and the fire eventually goes out. When the fire goes out, the air inside the bottle cools. As it cools, the air contracts, and the pressure of the air inside the bottle becomes less than the pressure outside. Then, the higher outside pressure pushes the egg into the bottle!

Photographs and Movies

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References

Egg in A bottle . Kitchen Science Lab for Kids by Liz Lee Heinecke

Egg in a Bottle. http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/EggInBottle.htm