This should be done as a team activity with individuals given specific responsibilities. Some of the duties that may be assigned include: a timer, a miner, a person to weigh and calculate, a person to measure area, someone to do reclamation, etc.

Materials:

• Hard-boiled egg
• Toothpicks/paper clips/popsicle sticks (mining tools)
• Graph paper in millimeters
• Weighing paper or index cards
• calculator
• Stopwatch
• Paper towels
• A scale that weighs at least tenths of a gram

1. The team must figure out how to mine as much of the yolk (the valuable mineral product) as possible using the mining tools (toothpicks, etc.) while disturbing as little as possible of the egg shell (the land surface).
2. Once any mining or exploration (doing anything to the egg) begins the stop watch is started. The watch is not stopped until all reclamation is completed.
3. The square millimeters of the removed shell is measured on the graph paper, recorded and set aside for the reclamation.
4. The mass (weight) of egg white and yolk are determined separately by placing them upon separate pre-weighed weighing papers or index cards, weighed and the results recorded.
5. The land is reclaimed by restoring the egg white and the shell onto the egg. Once reclaimed, the watch is stopped, and the total lapsed time is recorded.
6. Tally up the costs (pay out) and the profits. Double check all calculations. Was the team venture profitable? Is there anything that your team might have done differently that could have changed the outcome? (Hint: yolk is not exactly the center - how could you determine this?)