How to Make a Chicken Bone as Flexible as Rubber
Chemistry can be a confusing and abstract subject matter. Interactions between minerals and acids, chemical and physical changes, as well as the idea that these minerals make up your own body, can all be difficult concepts to grasp, especially for younger children. However you can perform experiments to bring these concepts to life using everyday products that most people have in their kitchens.
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Things You'll Need
- Uncooked chicken bone
- Glass container, preferably with lid
- Distilled white vinegar
Instructions
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Clean the meat from an uncooked chicken bone and allow it to dry overnight. It's important that the bone is uncooked. Heat destroys the protein molecules, which are essential to this experiment.
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2
Place the bone in the glass container. Fill the container with vinegar until the bone is covered. If the container doesn't have a lid, monitor the container to make sure the bone remains covered.
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Allow the bone to sit in the vinegar for seven days. To ensure the best result, you can drain the container and add fresh vinegar after two or three days.
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4
Remove the bone from the vinegar after a week has passed. At that point, the vinegar will have dissolved most of the hard, rigid calcium carbonate, leaving only the soft flexible collagen. The bone should be as flexible as rubber.
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