Have you ever tried to fit a peeled hard-boiled egg into a narrow neck bottle!? Chances are if you try, you will notice the egg is too big to fit into the bottle unless you use this super cool trick we learn about in this Egg In a Bottle Experiment!
Find more Egg Experiments For Kids here!
Watching an egg get squeezed and sucked into a bottle is a fun and fascinating way for kids to learn about the power of air pressure!
Egg In a Bottle Experiment
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Supplies Needed:
- Narrow Neck Bottle or Vase
- Piece of Paper
- Lighter or Matches
- Hard-Boiled Egg
Hard-Boiled Egg in a Bottle Experiment
- Peel a hard-boiled egg.
- Try get the egg inside a narrow neck glass bottle.
- Fold or roll up a small piece of paper.
- Have a adult light the paper on fire.
- Drop the paper into a narrow-neck glass bottle.
- Place the egg on top of the bottle and wait for it to get pulled into the bottle!
Step 1: Remove The Shell From a Hard-Boiled Egg
To get started with this fun egg experiment, you will need to boil an egg first. You might as well boil a few eggs at the same time to enjoy a little snack along with this experiment too!
Once the egg has been boiled and cooled, go ahead and crack the shell and peel the shell off.
Step 2: Try To Get The Egg into a Narrow-Mouthed Bottle
Grab your freshly peeled and boiled egg and drop it inside a narrow necked glass bottle. Sounds easy right!? You will soon find out that it’s not easy at all if the opening of your bottle has a smaller diameter than the egg!
You can even try applying a little pressure to get the egg inside the bottle and still, the egg will likely be too large to fit into the bottle.
I also like to try pushing the egg in with the more pointy end of the egg into the bottle first and then flip it and try pushing the more rounded end in first…but still no luck getting it in the bottle!
Step 3: Roll Up a Small Paper
Once you realize the egg will not fit into the bottle without intervening with a little magic and science, set the egg down and go grab some paper.
You don’t need a full sheet of paper, you just want to fold up about a half sheet of paper into a size that will fit through the opening in the bottle.
I prefer to roll my paper up so that it is narrow enough to slide into the bottle, but long enough to light one end on fire without burning my hand…yes, we are going to start a fire in the bottle next!
Step 4: Light the Paper on Fire
Using a lighter or matches, and with adult help and supervision, carefully hold one end of the paper while lighting the other end on fire.
You might even want to wear flame-resistant gloves for extra protection during this step, but you certainly need an adult to do this step, or at least very closely supervise!
You can also try this Egg in an Upside-Down Bottle Trick if you would prefer to use a candle instead of lighting paper on fire!
Step 5: Place the Paper in The Bottle
When your paper has begun to burn, quickly, but carefully drop the burning paper inside the glass bottle.
The paper will continue to burn inside the bottle while heating up the air inside very quickly. This process of quickly heating up the air will play a key factor in the science behind getting the egg inside the bottle in the next step!
Step 6: Set the Egg on Top of the Bottle and Watch it Go Inside!
Now its time to watch some fiery and fascinating science happen right before our eyes! While the paper is still burning inside the bottle, quickly place the hard-boiled egg on the top opening of the bottle.
The flame will burn up all the available oxygen inside the bottle and the flame will die out fairly quickly after the egg is set on top of the bottle.
Shortly after the flame goes out you will see the egg slowly start getting pulled into the bottle and then it will suddenly plop right into the bottle!
Congratulations! You have just succeeded in using the fascinating force of air pressure to push an egg into a bottle. Now let’s dive into the science behind how this egg in a bottle experiment works!
How Does The Egg in a Bottle Experiment Work?
This egg in a bottle experiment works thanks to the fact that hot air expands and cold air contracts.
As the flame burns inside the bottle and rapidly heats up the air, the air molecules bounce around quickly and the air pressure inside the bottle because greater than the air pressure outside of the bottle.
When the egg is placed on top of the bottle, it cuts off the oxygen supply to the flame. Fire needs oxygen to burn, so the fire quickly burns out.
As the fire goes out the air cools and contracts as the air molecules slow down. This cooling effect decreases the air pressure inside the bottle to a point that the outside air pressure is now greater.
As we have learned in other cool air pressure experiments like this Rising Water Experiment Step by Step, high pressure likes to move towards low pressure.
The higher pressure outside the bottle wants to get inside the lower pressure inside the bottle and actually pushes the egg into the bottle as the air makes its way inside!
So even though it looks like the egg is “sucked” into the bottle, it is technically pushed into the bottle by the difference of air pressure between the outside of the bottle and the inside.
How to Get an Egg Out of a Bottle
Now that we got the egg into a bottle, how in the world are we going to get the egg back out of the bottle in one piece!?
We are actually going to use the same air pressure trick that we used to get the egg into the bottle to get it out!
We need to increase the air pressure inside the bottle to a level that is higher than the air pressure outside the bottle. To do this you will need to put your mouth on the bottle opening, tilt the bottle up, and blow into it.
Blowing extra air into the bottle will increase the pressure inside the bottle. When you release your mouth, the higher pressure air on the inside will try to escape to the lower pressure outside and it will push the egg out of the bottle with it!
PIN THIS EXPERIMENT FOR LATER
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