Why you should never, ever microwave a hard-boiled egg

If you've ever been peckish for something hot and wanted to quickly microwave up that hard-boiled egg that's been rolling around in your lunchbox, for your own sake, don't.

Recently published research claims that heating an egg up in a microwave may cause it to literally explode.

Via: Giphy

Anthony Nash and Lauren von Blohn of Charles M. Salter Associates in San Francisco were asked to look into this phenomenon after a man filed a lawsuit against a restaurant.

The unnamed man alleged that a microwaved hard-boiled egg from the restaurant gave him severe burns and hearing damage when he tried to eat it.

The case was settled out of court, but Nash and Von Blohn's research continued and has recently been published by Eureka Alert.

They initially began by watching YouTube videos of eggs exploding but found that there were far too many variables. Instead, they decided to conduct their own experiments.

All of the eggs they boiled were placed in a bowl of water and heated for three minutes in a microwave.

Only 30 per cent of the eggs they tested survived the cycle and only exploded after being removed and poked with a knife or sharp object.

When they did explode they created a sound which registered between 86 to 133 on the decibel scale, which is loud but is so brief that it is unlikely to cause any serious damage.

They also found that the yolk in all of the eggs was much warmer than the water that they had been boiled in.

On the subject, Nash is quoted as saying:

For both the exploded eggs and eggs that didn't explode, we would probe the inside of the yolk with the thermometer.

We discovered that the yolk's temperature was consistently higher than the surrounding water bath.

With all this knowledge in mind, we would strongly suggest you stick to a cold egg.

HT IFL Science

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