Glad You Asked: a viewer has a question about the weight of raw eggs vs. boiled eggs

 

CBS 58 Morning News viewer Patrick from Kenosha sent in this question:

I have asked this question to the American Egg Council and the Poultry Assoc of Amer, but still no answer. I will give you a chance.
Which weighs more: A boiled egg or a raw egg?
I say a raw egg because during heating of the boiled egg it lost energy (caloric burn = weight)..
My friend says a boiled egg because it absorbs some of the water (as some of the air is pushed out of the porous shell).
I do not have a very small scale to test it.

Glad You Asked, Patrick!

Dr. Chris Stockdale, an associate physics professor at Marquette, has a small scale and can help us get the right answer.

First, Dr. Stockdale measured a raw egg at 60.5 grams. Then we boiled it for 13 minutes (according to Martha Stewart, that's the perfect amount of time to boil an egg). Then we weighed the egg again. It weighed 59.99 grams.

We did it again with three eggs and got a similar result. Dr. Stockdale says while Patrick from Kenosha is correct about the raw egg weighing more than a boiled egg, he says it isn't about energy transfer. Water inside the eggs boils out through the shell as a vapor causing it to lose some weight.

And just for clarity's sake, Patrick may not have received a response from the American Egg Council or the Poultry Association of America because the organizations are actually called the American Egg Board and the American Poultry Association.

Have a curious question you'd like answered on the next Glad You Asked? Ask away! If you've always wondered about something ask Mike Curkov on his Facebook page, on Twitter or email him at [email protected].