Consequently, I've spent more time indoors than I like. However, yesterday I had a great idea of a fun way to spend time outside. Ever heard of the expression, It was so hot out that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk? What better time to test this idea than yesterday afternoon when the sun was blazing and the air temperature was high. I rallied Ward and Theodore to help me. They weren't as excited with my idea as I was, but they humored me.
We didn't do much planning for the experiment except decide that we would use the black driveway for maximum heat potential. Theodore cracked an egg onto the driveway and we watched it sit. No sizzle, no turning white, just a broken egg on the driveway. We thought that it may take a little time because it had just come out of the fridge and was cold. So we gave it some time. Fifteen minutes, half hour, an hour. Not much change. Theodore said the driveway wasn't very hot and demonstrated that fact by standing on it with bare feet. I used the more scientific method of using a thermometer to see how hot it was. The temperature maxed out at 116°F. Too hot for feet, I thought, but not hot enough to cook an egg. The egg never cooked, so as they say on MythBusters, this myth is busted.
Once back inside the nice cool house, I did a little research on frying an egg on the sidewalk. Apparently you need the aid of foil and a magnifying glass or mirror to get the temperature high enough (158°F) to do it. I want to try again with the foil and magnifying glass, but I'm on my own. Theodore and Ward enjoy the cool house more than they enjoy watching an egg go splat.
The Egg Cooking Experiment
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| Theodore cracked the egg onto the driveway. |
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| The temperature maxed out at 116°F. Apparently this was not hot enough to burn Theo's feet or cook the egg. |
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| The egg never cooked. It just dried out. |
