Why do boiling eggs chirp?

Question

I have noticed over the past few years that when I boil eggs they tend to make a chirping noise. I am fully aware that store bought eggs are unfertilized and no living entity is within the shell. But it is darn eerie. From asking around it seems that half the people I've talked to have experienced this unsettling phenomenon while the other half are in awe by the very concept. The chirping doesn't always occur and when it does it is not partial to the kind of pot I am using. It has happened to me while boiling two eggs or a dozen (I've never bothered to hard boil just one egg.) Also age doesn't seem to be a factor. Farm fresh eggs seem to chirp just as often as eggs that are fast approaching their expiration date. So does anyone know why eggs sometimes chirp when they are boiled.

Answer 1

eggs are porous and the air /liquid inside the egg forces the membrane through the holes thus causing a chirping sound.

Answer 2

The chirpping shound you hear as eggs boil is the heat escaping from underneath the eggs. At the point where the egg meets the pan, the pan heats water trapped between them both and as it "bubbles up toward the surface" it makes the noise as it escapes from the small tight space that it once occupied.

Similar to the sound of air being forced out of a very tiny opening in the end of a balloon, it is a higher pitched noise than if you let the air escape out of the entire opening in the end of the balloon.

Something else you can try to get a similar demonstration.....find a lid for a pot that fits pretty snug, sit it on top of the pot as water boils, you will hear sound associated with the steam escaping from the gap around the top....However, if you apply pressure to the lid so the gap is compressed a bit, the steam escaping begins to make a sound similar to a whistle as it escapes.

Answer 3

The boiling water makes the eggs move and bounce in the pot. It's the sound of eggs hitting metal underwater. If you put eggs in a pot w/out water and shake a little (not enough to break them) you'll hear a similar sound that is a little sharper b/c there is no water muting it.

Answer 4

I agree it is eerie and disturbing! It's the air escaping the egg I think. I get "certified humane raised and handled" and "cage-free" "vegetarian-fed" eggs so I need to remember that they are the most likely to be extra careful with their hens (more than the typical).

Answer 5

if the egg is chirping throw them away, there is probably something disgusting inside.

Answer 6

It will probably make it to the Supreme Court. Is it a fetus or not? Chief Justice Roberts will cast the crucial vote!