Egg in a Bottle

Getting an egg to fit into a bottle has always been one of my favorite experiments. I always thought it was impossible, which made it all the more amazing when it actually happened.

This experiment is pretty easy to do with household supplies. You will need the following: a peeled hard boiled egg, a wide mouth glass bottle (Starbucks Cappuccino bottle), matches, paper, and vegetable oil. I didn't use the vegetable oil, but it might help.

I put the egg on top of the glass bottle, narrow end down in the bottle. I showed the boys that the egg doesn't fit in the bottle. Then I lit a match, and started a piece of rolled paper on fire. I put it in the bottle and put the egg back in place. The bottle filled with smoke, and the egg slowly inched its way in the bottle.

Our egg was very slow to descend into the bottle for a couple of reasons: the inside of the bottle was still wet from rinsing it, the egg didn't create a tight seal on the bottle, and no vegetable oil was used. The vegetable oil is used to line the inside mouth of the bottle to make is slick for the egg.

We corrected this during the experiment. I added more paper on fire to offset the water in the bottle, and I put my finger over the leaky seal.

The experiment was still a success. The boys thought it was so cool, and the explanation was still there. The fire eats up all the oxygen in the bottle, and the unbalance of air pressure between the inside of the bottle and the outside pushes the egg in the bottle. I explained this to the boys, and my 3-year old said we should go outside where there is more air. He said that would make the egg go in the bottle faster. I was impressed with his logic. So we sat on the deck and watched the egg go into the bottle.