Have you ever pulled eggs out of the fridge and wondered if they are still fresh enough to eat!? Wonder no more because this Egg Freshness Float Test is a super simple and cool way to discover the age of your eggs!
Find more Egg Experiments For Kids here!
The amazing thing about this floating egg test is how easy and accurate it is in helping you choose the freshest of eggs to eat for your next meal!
Egg Freshness Float Test
Supplies Needed:
- Large Bowl or Very Tall Glass
- Water
- Fresh Egg
- Old Egg (2-4 weeks old)
- Very Old Egg (4-6+ weeks old)
How to Determine Egg Freshness
- Fill a very large bowl or tall glass with water.
- Gently drop the eggs into the water one at a time.
- Closely observe what the eggs do when placed in the water.
- Keep the fresh eggs that sink and enjoy cooking them and eating them.
- Throw out the eggs that float because they are too old to eat!
Step 1: Pour Water Into a Large Bowl or Tall Glass
We decided to try this egg freshness float test in a tall glass vase first, and then we tried it with a large bowl filled with water. Both methods worked great and it really just depends on what materials you have on hand to use.
Whatever you decide on using, fill your container almost all the way to the top with water. Just leave enough room at the top to allow for the displacement of the water to not overflow when you add some eggs.
Step 2: Carefully Drop Some Eggs Into The Water One at a Time
Now gently drop some eggs into the water. If you are doing this as an experiment like we did, then you will want to drop 3 different eggs in one after another.
To do this, sort the order of your three eggs from freshest to oldest (most recently bought from the store to bought at the store a long time ago).
You can also use the “best if sold by” date on the egg cartons to help determine how long you have had the eggs.
When you have sorted out an egg that is fresh (1-2weeks old), an egg that is older (roughly 2-4 weeks old) and the oldest egg (roughly 4-6 weeks old) place them one at a time into the water, starting with the freshest egg.
If you aren’t really sure how old your eggs are, and you just want to sort out the fresh ones from the old ones, then you can place several into the water at once. Now let’s move onto the next step to learn which ones to keep!
Step 3: Watch What The Eggs Do In The Water
Once the eggs have all been placed into the water, pay attention to what they do in the water. Do they float or do they sink? Do some eggs float and do others sink to the bottom?
You will probably end up with variety of eggs with some that are floating at the top and some that have sunk to the bottom.
Some eggs might be laying on their side at the bottom and others might be standing on their end at the bottom. But which ones are fresh and which ones are too old to eat!?
Step 4: Save The Eggs That Sink For Eating
The eggs that sink to the very bottom of the water and are laying on their side are the very freshest eggs and will taste the best when you eat them.
These are the eggs you want to sort out from the floating eggs to cook for a delicious meal!
The other eggs that have sunk to the bottom of the water that are standing on one end are still fresh enough to eat, but when they stand on one end it is a sign that they are starting to get older.
Step 5: Throw Away The Floating Eggs
The floating eggs are the ones that you do not want to eat! Eggs have an incredibly long shelf like of up to 5 weeks or more if kept in a refrigerator.
If your eggs are floating they are likely more than 5 weeks old and could make you sick if you eat them!
So it is best to pick out the floating eggs and toss them out so you can safely eat and enjoy those fresh eggs that sank to the bottom!
Why Do Fresh Eggs Sink in Water?
All eggs have a little pocket of air inside of them. This pocket of air is very small in fresh eggs, but the pocket of air will start to get bigger as the eggs get older.
With the small pocket of air inside the fresh egg, the density of the egg is still greater than the density of water so it will sink to the bottom of the water. This is why a sinking egg is a sign of a good, fresh egg!
Why Do Old Eggs Float?
As eggs get older, the air pocket inside the egg starts to get bigger and bigger.
This is because the egg slowly loses water and moisture as time goes on. Gas and air move into the egg to fill the space the water left behind and this creates a larger air pocket.
As the air pocket on the inside of the egg grows larger, this increases the buoyancy of the egg and will eventually make the egg float in water.
So an egg that is floating has a much bigger air pocket inside than a fresh egg that is sunk and laying on it’s side.
Eggs that are sunk but standing on one end at the bottom are starting to get older, but the air pocket is not quite big enough to make the egg float yet.
PIN THIS EXPERIMENT FOR LATER
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