You should begin by explaining your eggs and vinegar experiment to your elementary scientists. Describe the experiment procedure and the health, safety and hygiene concerns that will arise during it. Ask your students what will happen during the experiment after the egg is completely submerged in malt and pure vinegar. For example, do students think the egg shell in the pure vinegar beaker will soften and become flexible faster than the egg shell in malt vinegar?
Health, safety and hygiene are three main concerns when carrying out an egg and vinegar science project. Although this project is relatively safe and clean, you should have children wear white laboratory coats, safety goggles and rubber gloves. Explain the importance of wearing each item during science experiments. The white laboratory coat, for example, protects a child's clothing, while it also informs other people that the student is carrying out an experiment. Rubber gloves protect a young scientist's hands from harmful chemicals, hot and cold temperatures and electric shocks that may be present during some experiments.
Gather your elementary scientists around a main bench or table in the classroom before commencing your experiment. Fill one glass beaker half full with malt vinegar and another with pure vinegar, also known as acetic acid. Carefully place an egg in each of the beakers, take a photograph of the beaker and egg setup and start a stopwatch or timer. Allow your young scientists to observe the experiment, although changes will only occur in the eggshells over a number of hours, not minutes.
Elementary students commonly carry out science experiments, such as those with eggs and vinegar, as part of a class presentation or science fair project. Therefore, it is important that students know how to present results in clear and interesting ways. Show your elementary scientists how to take photographs, focusing on the egg shell to demonstrate how it is becoming weaker and more flexible. Demonstrate the importance of displaying the time or the experiment stopwatch in each photograph so viewers know how long the egg has been submerged in vinegar for.