# Exploding egg

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 19, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003 "2009-05-19T19:37:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003/1 "2009-05-19T19:37:30Z")

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I started with one not-too-fresh egg (last one in the carton), plopped it in a pot of cold water, and set it on the stove to boil while the tea was steeping. Went into the bedroom to read the SDMB (plug!). After a couple of minutes, I heard a loud “crack” from the kitchen. The water was boiling, and the blunt end of the eggshell had blown off. It was in three pieces: one loose on the bottom of the pot, one still attached to the egg by a bit of membrane, and the third, a half-inch triangle, _on the stovetop a full foot from the pot._ Exploding egg!

The egg looked, smelled, and tasted perfectly normal.

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**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003/2 "2009-05-19T20:53:56Z")

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Report back to us as to whether there are any further explosions when the egg passes. 😛

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**Author:** ![FallenAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003/3 "2009-05-19T20:58:05Z")

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Even back in the days when I used the wrong method to boil eggs, I never had that happen. Interesting.

Had it gone long enough to retain the basic egg shape or was it now a hard poached egg kind of thing?

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-egg/497003/4 "2009-05-19T21:35:53Z")

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> [@FallenAngel](#):
>
> Had it gone long enough to retain the basic egg shape or was it now a hard poached egg kind of thing?

I’ve often had eggs crack as the water heated and emit icky strings of white, but this one ended up a perfect ovoid. It was either already cooked enough to keep its shape, or the inner membrane was intact enough to hold it together.