# The Egg That Bounced **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053 "2006-09-09T06:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/1 "2006-09-09T06:14:02Z")
I swear to God this actually happened. I’m preparing breakfast and I dropped an egg, an ordinary hens egg. It fell about 30 inches onto a hardwood floor and the bugger never broke :eek: I gazed at it in amazement then picked it up. At first I thought that it was maybe bad and that the insides were a solid mass of putrid matter which could have accounted for this. Nope. On breaking the egg into a cup it was fine **but** the only thing I could see that was unusual was at the “blunt” end was what seemed to be pieces of gravel welded together and stuck to the inside of the shell. Could this have prevented the egg from breaking? ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/2 "2006-09-09T15:23:47Z")
I dunno the reasons why it didn’t break, but I’m absolutely positive that you should’ve held on to it and sold it on eBay. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/3 "2006-09-09T15:26:50Z")
The blunt end of an egg is a pretty good [arch](http://www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/Experiments/ExpEggShellArches.htm). It must have landed in just the perfect orientation. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/4 "2006-09-09T16:17:26Z")
[QUOTE=faithfool] I dunno the reasons why it didn’t break, but I’m absolutely positive that you should’ve held on to it and sold it on eBay. 😉 [/QUOTE] Eggsactly what I thought just after I’d broken it 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/5 "2006-09-09T16:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] On breaking the egg into a cup it was fine **but** the only thing I could see that was unusual was at the “blunt” end was what seemed to be pieces of gravel welded together and stuck to the inside of the shell. Could this have prevented the egg from breaking? [/QUOTE] Hens are usually fed grit which they use to both grind up their food and produce shells. Like all birds they have no teeth. Except for one that they use to break out of thier shell, but they lose that when they are a few days old. Sounds like the hen wasn’t breaking the grit down correctly and some lumps found their way into the shell. That’s why I feed mine oyster shell as it’s easier to break down for them. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/6 "2006-09-10T08:25:45Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Eggsactly what I thought just after I’d broken it 😃 [/QUOTE] Hell, just sell any other egg using the same story. Not like anyone will know. Well, except us. But I won’t tell, as long as you cut me in on the profits. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/7 "2006-09-10T09:46:43Z")
[QUOTE=Antigen] Hell, just sell any other egg using the same story. Not like anyone will know. Well, except us. But I won’t tell, as long as you cut me in on the profits. 😃 [/QUOTE] Right, so all I need do is glue some bits of gravel/grit to the inside of an egg and nobody will be any the wiser :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/8 "2006-09-10T17:56:45Z")
No, what’ll be important will be the mark the floor made on the outside of the egg. In the form of St. Christopher. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/9 "2006-09-11T00:42:44Z")
When I’ve had eggs in the 'fridge for too long, I like to throw them off my back deck. I’ve done this numerous times, and every-time, at least 3 will hit the ground intact and roll to a stop. I usually aim for a bird feeder some 50 yards away, and it’s cool to see the eggs smash into the tree. Ha! The next day there is never a trace of either egg or shell…some woods dweller slurps them up. (it doesn’t take much to amuse me). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/10 "2006-09-11T00:59:09Z")
[QUOTE=JacobSwan] Sounds like the hen wasn’t breaking the grit down correctly and some lumps found their way into the shell. That’s why I feed mine oyster shell as it’s easier to break down for them. [/QUOTE] IANABiologist, but this sounds like a horribly wrong description of avian anatomy to me; the shell is _secreted_ by glands that are supplied by blood vessels; there’s no way for a piece of grit to negotiate its way through to the shell. Gritty lumps on the shell are probably just caused by imperfections in the process of shell secretion. The oviduct and digestive system do empty through the same opening, so I suppose it’s possible for a piece of intact oyster shell to adhere to the outside of an egg, but that’s not going to be the same as being incorporated into the structure of the shell itself. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-egg-that-bounced/372053/11 "2006-09-11T05:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=merrily] No, what’ll be important will be the mark the floor made on the outside of the egg. In the form of St. Christopher. [/QUOTE] As a matter of fact it looked a bit like Elvis