Why does heating egg white turn it from liquid to solid?

[jobyts]

Question on egg :)

Mostly, when you heat a solid, it changes to anoher solid, or liquid, or gas. The only thing I have seen a liquid, when heated becomes solid is an egg. Can someone please explain the actual process that causes this?

 

[lightarrow]

Question on egg :)

Mostly, when you heat a solid, it changes to anoher solid, or liquid, or gas. The only thing I have seen a liquid, when heated becomes solid is an egg. Can someone please explain the actual process that causes this?

It's not a pure chemical compound but a complex mix of many compounds, so you also have to consider how the whole structure change with heat and not simply the physical properties of a single compound.

 

[ozymandias]

The solidification of an egg is due to the proteins in the egg changing structure (a.k.a. denaturation - google the term). The egg does NOT solidify due to a phase transition.

--------
Assaf
http://www.physicallyincorrect.com/"

 

[Invictious]

The albumen is a compound of lots and lots of proteins (which would have been for the embryo). High temperature denatures the protein in the albumen, and it changes the structure. The process is irreversible (in this case) and then it becomes insoluble.

Anyone tried boiling an egg until it becomes a gas? Egg gas anyone?

 

[DaveC426913]

Anyone tried boiling an egg until it becomes a gas? Egg gas anyone?

Yep. Do that all the time. But there's an intermediary step - it needs to be metabolized first.

 

[IITian]

Heat can be used to disrupt hydrogen bonds and non-polar hydrophobic interactions. This occurs because heat increases the kinetic energy and causes the molecules to vibrate so rapidly and violently that the bonds are disrupted. The proteins in eggs denature and coagulate during cooking.