This fun science experiment came from Uplifting Mayhem!
I figured March would be a great time to do an egg-based science experiment, seeing as it’s finally spring and all, so I safely packed up some eggs and brought them to work for this experiment. I mean, of course they broke before I actually got them back home, but they survived long enough to actually do the experiment, and they came from my chickens so it’s not like I really lost money by losing the egg.
The idea of this experiment is to see how much salt you need to add to water to get an egg to float. You start with 1 cup of water in a cup or bowl, and then you add more salt to up the concentration, testing each time to see if the egg floats. You need to make sure the salt dissolves before you test with the egg though!
To meet the approximate salinity of the ocean, you would need to add 1/2 tablespoon of salt to the water. To meet the approximate salinity of the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, UT, you would need a ratio of 1/4 cup salt to 1 cup water, so you should add 3 1/2 tablespoons of salt to the water. To meet the approximate salinity of the Dead Sea, which lies on the border of Jordan and Israel, you would need a ration of 1/3 cup salt to 1 cup water, so you would need to add 1 1/3 tablespoons of salt to the water. Again, between each iteration of salinity, make sure the salt dissolves before you test to see if the egg floats!
Another way to do this experiment is to put an egg in a cup of water and just add salt 1 teaspoon at a time to see how much salt you need to get the egg to begin floating.
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