Water Density Experiment:
Why Does an Egg Float in Saltwater?

Abstract
The purpose of my experiment is to find out if an object, which would normally sink in tap water, would float when the water density is increased. The object I chose for my experiment is a raw egg. In the experiment, I changed the density of the tap water until I could make an egg float. The simplest way to change the density of water is by dissolving salt in it. I concluded that dissolving 4 teaspoons of salt in 250 milliliters of water is sufficient to float a raw egg.

Introduction
The goal of my experiment was to test the hypothesis whether adding salt to regular tap water could increase water density enough to make an object to float. The water density concept states that in order for an object to float in the liquid, the density of an object must be less than that of the liquid. According to Charles Ophardt, Elmhurst College (2003), density is defined as a ratio of a material’s mass divided by its volume. The density of tap water is known to be one gram per milliliter. In my experiment, I will demonstrate changing the density of water by dissolving various amounts of salt crystals into 250 ml of tap water until the egg floats.

Materials Needed
In my experiment, I used the following materials: * 5 clear 400 milliliter containers * 300 milliliters measuring cup * Tap water 250 milliliters per container * 5 raw eggs * Morton iodized salt * 1 tea spoon

Methods
The following two experiments will visually demonstrate how changing the density of water affects an egg’s ability to float when submerged in a water.
Experiment 1 – Tap Water
This experiment would often be called control - that is, we know the expected result. The goal is to demonstrate that in plain tap water an egg will sink to the bottom of the container. The following steps