If I somehow managed to swallow a hard-boiled egg whole with the shell on, what would happen? Would the egg somehow manage to break down or would my anus end up having to painfully pass a still-intact whole egg?
Try it with a quail egg and let us know…
I suspect that the acid in your stomach would weaken the shell to the point that it would break, obviating the painful egg/anus encounter.
Dissolving egg shells in vinegar is a primary school science experiment.
The HCl in the stomach is buffered to give a pH of 1-2, which is more strongly acidic than vinegar.
Just don’t try that experiment with a pineapple.
Or an ostrich egg.
pH isn’t the whole story; hydrofluoric acid, for instance, is actually a fairly weak acid, despite being one of the few substances which can etch glass (and it really does a number on living tissue, too). That said, though, hydrochloric does do a fine job of eating away calcium carbonate, which is mostly what an eggshell is made of.
Your throat can accommodate a (chicken) egg?
***“How YOU doin’?”