Eggceptional Eggs-periments – Get the Egg in the Bottle

In honor of the fast approaching Easter Holiday (Sunday, April 8th), we are celebrating the amazing, edible egg all week with experiments and activities to do with your eggs. Today, we are celebrating the classic Egg in the Bottle trick. Steve Spangler, along with his lovely assistant and 13-year-old son, Jack, demonstrate how to get the egg in the bottle using heat and fire and extreme cold and liquid nitrogen.

Materials

• A wide mouth juice bottle
• Hardboiled eggs
• Several strips of paper (2 x 6 inches)
• Matches
• A few balloons
• Water

Experiment

Warning: This experiment requires the help of an adult partner. Don’t just pick any adult… try to find a smart one!

1. Carefully fill the balloon with water so the balloon is about the size of a tennis ball. Tie it off. Make several balloons just in case the first one breaks!
2. Rinse out the bottle to remove any leftover, sticky, slimy stuff that might be in the bottom. Before going any further, make sure that the water balloon is slightly larger than the mouth of the bottle.
3. Here’s the challenge… Your job is to find a way to get the balloon into the bottle without breaking it. How are you going to do it? It’s important that you take a minute to test out some of your ideas before jumping ahead to read our solution. Keep trying! Once you’ve come up with your hypothesis, read on to find out our answer!
4. Start by smearing some water around the mouth of the bottle.
5. Have the adult light a match and set the strip of paper on fire. Quickly put the burning strip into the bottle. Be careful you don’t accidentally burn your fingers.
6. 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!

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!

For more on the Egg in the Bottle Experiment and the science behind it, visit the Egg in the Bottle Trick Experiment page on SteveSpanglerScience.com.