The Egg in the Bottle Trick

The Standard "Right-Side-Up" Version

1. Using a pair of scissors, cut a strip of paper about 8" x 1."
2. Carefully use a match or lighter to light the strip of paper at one end and drop it into the large-mouthed bottle.
3. While the strip of paper is still burning in the bottle, set an egg on the mouth of the bottle.
4. Watch carefully! With the egg sitting atop the bottle, the burning strip of paper extinguishes itself.
5. Keep watching! The hardboiled egg slowly, then quickly, squeezes through the top of the bottle and drops to the bottom. Whoa!

1. Want to do the experiment again? You'll need to get that egg out of the bottle. Be extra careful doing this!
2. Turn the bottle upside down.
3. Put your mouth on the mouth of the bottle and forcefully blow air into the bottle. It shouldn't take much!
4. The egg will pop out of the bottle just like it popped into it!

1. Carefully push two or three small birthday candles into the narrower end of a hardboiled egg. Make sure the candles can fit easily inside the large-mouthed bottle.
2. Light the candles and sing a quick happy birthday song to the egg.
3. Turn the large-mouthed bottle upside-down and slowly put the candles inside the mouth of the bottle.
4. Allow the flames to heat up the air inside the bottle for just a few seconds and then place the mouth of the bottle against the egg. The candles will go out and with a "pop!" the egg will squeeze up into the bottle.

1. Carefully fill the balloon with water so the balloon is about the size of a tennis ball. Tie it off. Make a few balloons just in case the first one breaks!
2. Before going any further, make sure that the water balloon is slightly larger than the mouth of the bottle.
3. Smear some water around the mouth of the bottle.
4. Set a strip of paper on fire. Quickly put the burning strip into the bottle. Be careful you don't accidentally burn your fingers.
5. Immediately cover the mouth of the bottle with the balloon. In just seconds, the balloon will start to wiggle around on the top of the bottle, the fire will go out, and some invisible force will literally “push” the balloon into the bottle. That’s amazing!
6. Now that you've mastered the trick, it's on to the next challenge. Can you get the balloon back out of the bottle? Use what you learned about air and air pressure to come up with a way to get the balloon back out. Here's a hint... Try sneaking a straw alongside the balloon when you pull it out. If the outside air can get inside the bottle, the water balloon will come out!

How does it work?