Egg Cooking Chem Project

[jrrdw]

If you want to poke a hole in the egg with out cracking it up, put a piece of scotch tape over where you want the hole. Thats how you poke a hole in a ballon with out popping it...might work. I've never tried it myself.

[iknowmy3tables]

the stoves made from aluminum cans that gipeto and inonickname gave links to in the beginning of the thread would probably would work better than the salt shaker because they are entirely made of aluminum so the heat of the flame is better transferred to the the alcohol to help it vaporize, a crucial component in all liquid gas stoves,
those jars are a nice size but I believe oil would be a better medium since it does not waste heat in vaporization like water

perhaps an optimum size/shaped container could be made with foil and sheet metal and wire, you'd just have to be careful because hot oil is not something to play with

[DR]

iknowmy3tables-
You're onto something, even better!

By making a "container", out of an aluminum roasting pan (pick one up at the local "Dollar Store"), the egg can be cooked in vegetable oil.

A meat thermometer can be inserted to keep an eye on the temp, so that it doesn't exceed... what? like, 225*F ?

The salt shaker idea, as a fuel container / burner was just an "el-cheapo" and easier alternative, than a soda-can burner.

Mold the container, by forming it around the end of a piece of 1-1/2" pipe.
A piece of 1/4" rod (even 1/4-20 allthread) can be used to suspend the container, from it's top.

[D_Hall]

If there's egg yolk/white oozing out of the egg, cook this area over the open flame first, to seal the egg to the skewer. Googled this info by looking up <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_2324833_cook-eg ... ">"cooking egg over open flame"</a>

I'm liking this idea. It could be improved by putting the egg rotisserie in an insulated horizontal tube. The tube would have a hole and the bottom to expose the egg to the burner's flame and exhaust plume. The tube would then have an exhaust port of it's own and the ends. Basically, it's a chimney with a horiztonal component.

On that note, a vertical (again, insulated) chimney with a reasonably tight fit around the egg would likely work well, but you lose the ability to rotate the egg. But perhaps this isn't a problem? Or perhaps it only needs to be flipped occassionally, which could be accomplished if the chimney were symmetrical.


Baring the direct method, I'm def liking the idea of using oil instead of water. MUCH lower heat losses both in terms of energy wasted heating up the cooking medium and in energy wasted boiling off water (even if water isn't boiling, it'll experience rapid evaporation....oil isn't going to do this!).

[iknowmy3tables]

hey I'll throw out another radical idea, what if you tightly warped the egg in aluminum foils and some heat grease of sorts, perhaps it could help dissipate the heat like the water or oil the main difference is that water and oil have a more homogeneous heat exchange

what would be the most idea medium besides a liquid?

[D_Hall]

Just for fun, I just poked a needle into the blunt side of an egg (inserted needle about 1"). I then through the egg on my (gas) stove. Turned stove on low. Let it go a few minutes while rotating the egg periodically. Egg is currently cooling.....

Dunno if it's cooked all the way through, but we'll see.

In any event, my biggest question was whether egg goo would come out the hole as the egg heated. Answer? Not really. There was a very tiny drop that tried to come out but it quickly cooked in place.

Will update on how it tastes.



edit: Well, I could see a very faint yellow spot where the yolk leaked into the white (I stuck the needle in a full inch, remember?), but otherwise... Looked and tasted like any other hard boiled egg.

[DR]

I didn't try my current idea, as D_Hall has tried his, but here's another concept:

Metal skewer, with a small fender washer welded onto it, about 1" from the base of the skewer... A Pepsi can, to redirect the heat, with an a small alligator clip holding the can's position, on the skewer.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the skewer, held directly over the flame, would cook the egg on the inside, while the redirected heat from the Pepsi can would cook it on the outside, at the same time.

[D_Hall]

Nice.... Now add some insulation to that Pepsi can. Probably doesn't need to be anything exotic given the times/temps involved. A layer of corrogated cardboard would likely do it.

[DR]

Wow! First the clip on the Vortex Cannon, now another video, which may help this thread:

<a href="" target="_blank">Paper Fried Egg? - Bang Goes the Theory - BBC One</a>

[iknowmy3tables]

hey so ignore some of the stuff I said about a soild medium. I realized that liquids also fill all the nooks and crannies on the surface of an egg for good heat conduction so even with a perfect metal medium grease ought to be used just like the heat grease on the heat sink of a cpu

[starman]

The Pepsi can and paper solutions both look readily workable. If you use paper and would like the egg to actually be safely edible, use something that doesn't have printing ink on it....like Baker's Paper...

Reminds me of my Engineering Day competitions I used to compete in several years ago. This is a cool little problem to solve.

[iknowmy3tables]

why would you use paper unless you were constrained on materials? paper is more insulative something like aluminum foil

[DR]

why would you use paper unless you were constrained on materials? paper is more insulative something like aluminum foil

Because aluminum foil has a dull side and a shiny side. The dull side is a good conductor of heat and the shiny side is a good reflector of heat.

To make a basket out of aluminum foil, you would more than likely have to fold a piece of aluminum foil in half...

You'd have a dull side, conducting heat into a shiny (reflective) side, so the two would cancel one another out... and the egg would never cook.

[iknowmy3tables]

man I've wanted to this respond for quite some time but the internet at home wouldn't let me, but I'm back on campus now

You'd have a dull side, conducting heat into a shiny (reflective) side, so the two would cancel one another out... and the egg would never cook.

so anyways I believe you've made a misconception in your logic, as heat does not reflect completely just because it's shinny. remember the three modes of heat transfer are conduction convection and radiation and in non vacuum environment all three occur at the same time, radiation is the only form that can be reflected, and for surface to surface heat transfer in non-vacuum it's negligible so you don't even use it in most thermodynamic calculations for surface to surface. an example of this might be found with emergency blankets they claim to reflect your body heat, legally they can say that because technically your body does release some heat in the form of radiation and some of that heat could be reflected,but if you've ever had to use one you'd know that they won't keep you warm because they aren't insulative enough to prevent massive heat loss through conduction and convection

[DR]

...so anyways I believe you've made a misconception in your logic, as heat does not reflect completely just because it's shinny...

I obviously have not made a misconception in my logic, as there is no such word as "shinny".

A shiny surface is very smooth. It is easier for any radiation to reflect from a smooth surface. Shiny metallic surfaces tend to be smoothest and best reflective.

Dull surfaces absorb heat. Heat always move from a warmer place, to a colder place.

The only thing that would warm up, are the trapped air molecules, that exist between the dull side and the shiny side of the aluminum foil. In fact, if the heated air molecules are not allowed to vent, there is a chance that foil basket would explode, showering you with molten aluminum and egg.

Unless, this experiment was conducted inside of a vacuum. But you would ruin the vacuum and then have to buy another one... BIG waste of money, in my opinion? ...

<b>Becka...THIS GUY, "DR"... IS TOTALLY RETARDED!!!</b>

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