does anyone know why an egg explodes in the microwave?

Question

i am doing a paper on chemical reactions and i cant find anything on the internet

THANK YOU THANK FOR SUCH GREAT ANSWERS.

Answer 1

Microwaves are set at a certain frequency that matches that of water molecules, so when you put an egg in the microwave, the water inside the egg heats up (fast!) and hot things expand and create PRESSURE :) especially if it gets hot enough to reach a gaseous state.

Egg shells, however, do not contain as much water as the inside of the egg, so they do not expand.

So when the inside of the egg is pushing outwards and the eggshell is stubbornly sitting there, it EXPLODES!

Answer 2

the only reason it explodes is because the water inside the egg turns to steam. when the steam leaves, a chemical reaction goes on in the egg making it harder(cooked). so when it explodes, the outside is cooked but the iside isn't so pressure builds up inside until it breaks its cooked prison.

Answer 3

As you heat the egg the air trapped in the shell expands rapidly and you have an explosion. I would guess it is the rate of heating doesnt give the air enough time to escape the shell slowly and the shell explodes.

Answer 4

the thing about microwave is that microwave waves will only heat up things that have water in them. so if you put a stone in microwave, i dont think that you would heat it up. so in your case egg has water in it and water absorbs waves and warms up and evaporates and explodes the shell since it occupies higher volume than water

Answer 5

The paper is dealing with physics more than chemistry.
If you want a good grade, do more in chemistry for your chemistry teacher.