# Swallowing an egg whole
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 23, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519 "2011-04-23T23:43:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/1 "2011-04-23T23:43:25Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [April 23, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/2 "2011-04-23T23:50:45Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/3 "2011-04-24T00:25:51Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/4 "2011-04-24T00:53:18Z")
Just don’t try that experiment with a pineapple.
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### Author:  [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/5 "2011-04-24T07:54:35Z")
Or an ostrich egg.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/6 "2011-04-24T16:41:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The HCl in the stomach is buffered to give a pH of 1-2, which is more strongly acidic than vinegar.
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.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2011, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swallowing-an-egg-whole/579519/7 "2011-04-25T08:18:22Z")
Your throat can accommodate a (chicken) egg?
\*\*\*“How YOU doin’?”
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