# Is it faster to bake 20 nuggets at once, or 10 and then 10? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606 "2014-09-05T19:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/21 "2014-09-09T15:21:58Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > An increase in mass _would_ matter if it was a question of increasing the _size_ of the items rather than the number of them. As in, if you poured enough cake batter for two layers into a single pan (like a bundt cake pan) you will have to bake it longer. And, conversely, 12 cupcakes cook faster than a single cake layer. And a two pound meatloaf takes longer than two separate one pounders. > > In that case, it’s a question of how long it takes for the heat to penetrated through the item, nothing to do with the oven’s capacity. Right- the difference between cooking a chicken nugget and a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/22 "2014-09-09T16:28:40Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Right, but unless I misunderstand the general principles governing ovens, wouldn’t adding another pan of muffins simply mean the oven has to turn the flame on or activate the electric coil twice as often to maintain the temperature? I suspect this might be true in a (theoretical) perfectly insulated oven, in which the only loss/transfer of heat was to the muffins. But in such an oven, the heat wouldn’t come back on hardly at all once the oven had reached its set operating temperature, and the difference between one and two pans would be negligible. In a microwave oven, the energy is transferred more-or-less directly to the food, so that twice as much food does come closer to requiring twice as much time; but that’s not the way a conventional oven works. All of the above is my inexpert understanding, about which I am willing to be corrected. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/23 "2014-09-10T00:11:48Z")
The heating coils turn on in response to lowered temperature, which is caused by heat loss. Heat loss in an oven happens in two broad ways: 1) Heat is used for chemical reactions required to cook the food or to boil and evaporate liquids, and 2) heat escapes the oven through radiation and convection; turn on an empty oven and you will note that the coils continue to cycle on and off. Ovens are specifically designed to minimize #2 although in my oven (1995 GE Profile electric\*) there is some degree of venting; when the contents are smoking it comes out vents in the front. The amount of heat generated to heat the entire oven to and maintain a specific temperature is much greater than the heat actually needed to cook the food in many cases, including a pan of muffins (Not sure if the same is true of a 22-pound turkey). That is, of the heat needed to raise the temperature to, say, 350F, only a relatively small portion of that heat is used to bake the muffins. Therefore adding a second tray of muffins does not double the heat requirement. I don’t know the numbers but I would bet that heat loss through the walls of the oven exceeds the heat used to actually bake the muffins. * * * \*Yes, BakingWithElectricity. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/24 "2014-09-10T13:51:21Z")
Cooking or baking is a classic heat transfer / reaction engineering problem for Chemical engineers. In undergraduate Junior or Senior years, the engineering textbooks have the classic problem of calculating the time it needs to bake a potato. Here is a website that talks about the physics/chemistry of the problem : [Index](http://www.umich.edu/~elements/fogler&gurmen/html/web_mod/potato/index.htm) Almost all ovens have the capacity to regulate temperatures in the moderate ranges even when the oven is well loaded and also accounts for heat losses. The time for cooking is determined by heat transfer & reaction kinetics (read [Millard reaction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction) for an example of a heat reaction that explains why seasoning enhances flavor) and usually follow the [Arrhenius equation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrhenius_equation). So 10 or 20 nuggets will not make much difference. Now - if you insert a nail (sterilized of course) in each of the nuggets, you will get done faster perhaps ! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/25 "2014-09-10T14:02:05Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Now - if you insert a nail (sterilized of course) in each of the nuggets, you will get done faster perhaps ! It’s called The McNugget Surprise! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/26 "2014-09-10T14:20:36Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > It’s called The McNugget Surprise! :eek: Hmm. Does it involve pan-fried semen? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/27 "2014-09-10T14:23:29Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Now - if you insert a nail (sterilized of course) in each of the nuggets, you will get done faster perhaps ! Finger, toe, or does it matter? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/28 "2014-09-10T14:25:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hmm. Does it involve pan-fried semen? > [@kayaker](#): > > Finger, toe, or does it matter? This thread has taken a turn for the gross. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/29 "2014-09-10T21:58:01Z")
Lots of interesting… nuggets… in this thread. Thank you all 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606/30 "2014-09-11T01:23:05Z")
The surface area to mass ratio of the nuggets won’t change when you add more, so they should take in heat at the same rate no matter how many are in the oven, unless they are packed too close together. That would effectively decrease their surface to mass ratio, so make sure those nuggets are well separated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-faster-to-bake-20-nuggets-at-once-or-10-and-then-10/697606.md?page=1)