One thing that my parents did an excellent job of was instilling the seed of wonderment and curiosity in both me and my siblings. They took us to the Art Center Science Center.
When I was younger, one thing that I looked forward to every Thanksgiving was a similar experiment to the rubber egg. But instead of a rubber egg, you ended up with a wishbone that you could tie in a knot. When it dried, you had a bone-hard knot. I would take the hardened bone to school and baffle other kids. It was almost as if it was a magic trick.
The rubber egg was a similar experiment. The big draw was that it was both unique and Adam-proof. Basically, all that one does is take an egg and soak it in vinegar for forty-eight hours. This sounded simple enough and shorter than the ever-evasive sugar crystal. The kids and I started off by having Tate pour the vinegar into a glass. Next, Emery dropped the egg into the glass. Then it went into the fridge. Simple.
Two days later, we took the egg out and inspected it. The vinegar had eaten away the shell and left an opaque yellow ball. Surprise, surprise, we had a rubber egg. I squeezed it, but it wasn’t firm. I couldn’t tell if the innards had solidified or not.
“Can I see, Dad?” Tate asked.
And that was the end of the egg.
As it turned out, the inside of the egg was still very much in its original form. That is, until it hit the ground. In the hands of children the prep time was extended with this project, but the final product was cut short. You can’t blame kids for dropping things. I told Tate that the egg matched the yellow in his shirt.
As we were cleaning up the yolk, I noticed a curious thing: the small, translucent membrane that used to be the shell. Despite its brevity, this project was a fun one. My only recommendation is making more than one egg.
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