DEMONSTRATION #1 - Egg in the bottle


Supplies:

Apple juice bottle (1/2 gallon), or 250ml Erlenmeyer Flask
Hard boiled egg (Jumbo)
wooden matches

Procedure:

  1. Light a match and drop it in the bottle.
  2. Place a peeled hard boiled egg on the neck of the bottle.
  3. WAIT and OBSERVE

Expected Results:

If the air is removed from the inside of the bottle, a vacuum is created. By lighting a match and dropping it in the bottle, the oxygen is consumed, which creates a partial vacuum. If an egg is placed on top of the bottle at this time, the difference in pressure between the inside and the outside of the bottle causes the egg to be pushed into the bottle.

Questions to ask the class:

  1. What happened? [The pressure outside the bottle pushed the egg inside.]
  2. Why? [The pressure difference created a partial vacuum inside of the bottle.]

Last modified: Mon Nov 4 13:47:38 PST 1996