Cooking eggs in the microwave might look like a time saving hack, but it could end in disaster.
Recently a man tried to sue a US restaurant after a hard boiled egg he had ordered exploded in his mouth, he claims, damaging his hearing.
The case was settled out of court, but scientists have continued to research what happens when boiled eggs are reheated in this way.
According to IFL Science, researchers began their investigations by watching YouTube videos of microwaved eggs exploding.
They did further research, discovering sometimes egg explode while being cooked in the gadget, but 30 per cent of them didn’t pop until taken out and prodded with sharp object.
They used a water bath to conduct their experiments rather than a standard 800w microwave people might have at home.
The results proved that if an egg does burst, it can be as loud as lightning or a chainsaw, but as the sound is over quickly it was near impossible for the mystery diner to have lost his hearing from his boiled egg drama.
Talking about it, Scientist Anthony Nash said, “On a statistical basis, the likelihood of an egg exploding and damaging someone's hearing is quite remote. It's a little bit like playing egg roulette."
Scientists at IFL Science added that the study found in both the exploded eggs and those that didn’t explode, the yolk’s temperature was much higher than the surrounding water. This suggests the yolk is more receptive to the microwave radiation than pure water.
This may be due to the protein in the egg trapping pockets of water in the yolk, which are then superheated well above the boiling temperature of tap water.
According to scientists when these pockets are disturbed, either by poking the egg or biting into it, they all boil in a chain reaction and explode.
