• Question: Can an egg float?

    Asked by fiestay to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Laura Waters

      Laura Waters answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Isn’t that how you can tell when they have gone off?

    • Photo: Viv Lyons

      Viv Lyons answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      I agree with Laura. I was always told that when they go off they generate gas inside the shell, which is what smells so bad when you crack a bad egg, and the trapped gas makes them float.

    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 20 Mar 2012:

      Yes. Generally, fresh eggs will lie on the bottom of the bowl of water. Eggs that tilt so that the large end is up are older, and eggs that float are rotten. The tilting is caused by air pockets in the eggs that increase in size over time as fluid evaporates through the porous shell and oxygen and gases filter in. The older an egg gets the more gas builds up inside it. More gas = more floating!

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