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Boiling an Egg
Boiling an Egg
Consider a spherical homogeneous egg of specific heat capacity c, density !, thermal conductivity " and radius a (all constants). Its initial temperature is Tegg, and it is cooked by immersion in water at time t = 0 which keeps the surface temperature constant at Twater thereafter. The Thermal Diffusion Equation A spherical shell of material, radius r < a and thickness #r, has a radial thermal resistance #R and total heat capacity #C given by
!C = " 4 #r 2c!r
and !R = !r 4 #r 2$ .
(1,2)
(3) (4)
and taking limits as ! r " 0 and !t " 0 gives " !Q % dr " !T % dC " !T % 2 " !T % 2 " !T % $ ' = 4 ()r $ ' = Q( r,t ) and $ ' = 4 (c*r $ ' = $ ' # !r & # ! t & # !r & dR # !r & dr # !t & (5,6)
Tk ( r,t ) =
which must satisfy equation 7, i.e.
(8)
!r 2 k 2Tk =
" 0r 2
(i#Tk )
$ Tk ( r,t ) =
(9,10)
The physically significant solutions are real and must also be finite at r = 0 so 1
Boiling an Egg
!1) 2a +( N "r N =1
N !1
(11)
where the amplitudes have been selected to satisfy the boundary conditions:
(12a-c)
(13)
We consider the egg to be cooked when the yolkwhite boundary is at temperature Tyolk . As the yolk comprises 33% of the egg this means that Tyolk = T (0.69a,t cooked ) $ "! 2 t ' Tyolk " Twater !0.69 cooked = exp& ) 2sin(0.69!) Tegg " Twater #0 ( % so
t cooked = !M
2/3
( (
) )
(14)
( (
)' ) )) (
where ! =
c* 1/ 3
+ 2, ( 4 + 3)
2/3
(15,16)
Approximate values (derived from S. L. Polley, O. P. Snyder and P. Kotnour, Food Technol. 34(11) (1980) 76-94.) for the thermal properties needed to calculate ! are:
c
Yolk White 2.7 J g!1 K!1 3.7 J g!1 K!1
!
3.4 !10"3 W cm"1 K"1 5.4 !10"3 W cm"1 K"1
!
1.032 g cm!3 1.038 g cm!3
( ) 27 (s g!2 3 )
31 s g!2 3