Hot Enough To Fry An Egg

On The Ground?

So over the past few weeks it has been getting hot here in Las Vegas. The high thus far this summer has been 115 degrees. I have lived here for two years now and have often wondered if it is hot enough to cook an egg on the ground.

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Will an egg cook outside on the ground? This thought has ran through my mind many crazy-hot day here in the desert. I thought for sure an egg would fry in a matter of minutes on black asphalt at high noon in the middle of the summer. It's a silly thing to do, but hey teachers are allowed to be silly!

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This calls for an experiment!

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We called it our EGGsperiment.

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The Prep

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A few weeks ago I decided to really test this out. The mad scientist in me came out with a wicked smile and a mad scientist laugh. I gathered together my supplies and typed up a prediction sheet for my third grade students.

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The Procedure

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We next set up our experiment. I cracked one egg directly onto black asphalt, one egg on a cookie sheet sitting on the black asphalt, and one egg was put into a Tupperware blow and closed tightly. They were all placed into direct sunlight, and the temperature soared at 115 degrees. The students were to make predictions for what they think that the fate of the helpless little eggs would be at 10 minute, 3 hour, and 6 hour time intervals.
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The Predictions

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I thought for sure that the eggs would all cook!! I thought that the egg directly sitting on the hot black asphalt would fry fastest and best. I thought that the one on the cookie sheet would cook up well too. The expectation of the closed bowl was high also. I mean 115 degrees out sitting on a super-hot black surface I thought for sure that with the lid closed it would get HOT in that bowl! I was surprised by the outcome of this experiment.

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The Conclusions

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Oh my gosh they didn't cook!

I thought that an egg on the sidewalk in Las Vegas, Nevada for 6 hours in the middle of summer would cook for sure! The results of this experiment were as follows:
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1. The egg directly sitting on the asphalt evaporated really quickly only leaving the yolk. Some of which cooked 1/2 way solid.
2. The egg sitting on the cookie sheet evaporated at a slower rate, but by six hours had evaporated totally also leaving the yolk a little less cooked than the first egg.
3. The egg in the bowl was almost totally raw. I tiny bit ( about 5%) of the egg white had turned white.
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Two of the students made correct predictions, and we all had fun playing with raw eggs. =)
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smiles,
Kathy