“Are you putting a chicken bone in a jar of water?” General Mayhem asked.

Yes.

“Why?” he inquired.

To see what happens after it sits for two weeks.

“It will get wet,” he informed me.

Thank you for that moment of brilliance.  

“No problem, dad.”

What do you think will happen when I take this second chicken bone and put it in a jar of vinegar?

“Vinegar is an acid,” he told me.

Very good.  Tell me, what important mineral do bones contain?

General Mayhem thought for a moment.  “Calcium.”

Yes.  What will happen when we soak the chicken bone in vinegar for two weeks?

“We’ll have pickled chicken bone for dinner?”

Where do you get this from?

“It will break down.”  He paused.  “And the water jar is used as a comparison.”

That was my conversation with General Mayhem yesterday when we started Crossview’s chicken bone in vinegar science experiment that she wrote about here.  The first picture shows the chicken bone in vinegar on the left, and the chicken bone in water on the right.   

Prior to beginning this experiment is was necessary for us to remove a rather tasty layer of teriyaki glazed Samoan grilled chicken leg meat provided by my neighbor.  That man can grill!