The Egg in the Bottle

What to do

Take a glass milk bottle or similar glass bottle with a neck slightly smaller than the circumference of an egg, and a peeled hard boiled egg. Light a piece of paper and drop it in the bottle. While it is still burning, place the egg over the neck of the bottle.

What Happens

The burning paper goes out, and the egg plops^* into the bottle.

Why is it so?

I have read some books which say that the fire uses up the oxygen in the bottle which creates low pressure in the bottle which sucks the egg in.

This is totally and utterly WRONG!!!!!! When the oxygen is used up, just as much carbon dioxide is produced, so this is not what produces a vacuum. Instead, the heat of the flame expands the air in the bottle and some escapes. When the flame runs out of oxygen, the flame goes out and air air cools down creating a lower pressure. The egg is then not sucked in by the low pressure in the bottle, but rather it is pushed in by the higher pressure of the atmosphere.

^* Plop is one of my senior English teacher's favourite onomatopoeia words. Just thought I'd tell you that.

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