The document discusses the chemistry of chicken eggs. It explains that a chicken egg shell is composed of 95% calcium carbonate. The age of an egg can be determined by floating it in water, as older eggs will float due to carbon dioxide diffusing through the shell's pores over time. Eggs contain many nutrients like proteins, vitamins, and minerals. The document also describes how excess heat can cause chickens stress and lead to more brittle egg shells, and how overcooking eggs causes their yolks to turn green due to chemical reactions between proteins and sulfur. Eggs are widely used in foods and products around the world.

1. THE CHEMISTRY
OF A CHICKEN EGG
by Olivia Shumate
Sunday, May 5, 2013

2. The Egg
The shell is 95% calcium
carbonate.
A large chicken egg has
about 85 Kcal or Calories.
(Eggs 2-3)
Sunday, May 5, 2013

3. Composition
A chicken egg is
composed of many
elements such as
the following:
sodium, chlorine,
potassium, calcium,
magnesium, sulfur, and
many more
(Eggs 2-3)
Sunday, May 5, 2013

4. The shell allows oxygen and
carbonic gas to diffuse from
eggs through 8,000 to
10,000 pores over time which
gives us an indicator of the
age of an egg by placing an
egg in a bowl of water.
(Eggs 4)
Sunday, May 5, 2013

5. Freshly laid eggs will sit
on the bottom on the bowl
while older eggs will float.
After this carbon
dioxide diffuses, the
albumen becomes more
alkaline (Evanhoe 2).
Sunday, May 5, 2013

6. in hot weather...
When chickens get hot,
they are incapable of
sweating, so they pant. This
causes an extreme loss of
carbon dioxide.
Le Chatelier’s principle
causes the chicken to also
lose solid calcium
carbonate, so the egg
shells are brittle and
easily broken.
(Grosser 15)
Sunday, May 5, 2013

7. Boiling Eggs
When boiling eggs, many
people over cook their eggs
which gives the yolk a
greenish color. This is caused
when the sulfur in a protein
in the egg white decomposes
and bonds with hydrogen to
form hydrogen sulfide gas.
This also produces the
infamous sulfury smell of an
over cooked or rotten egg
(Grosser 7).
Sunday, May 5, 2013

8. Eggs are everywhere!
Eggs are one of the most common
breakfast foods and can be fried,
scrambled, poached, and boiled. They
are also used in a countless number
of foods including some of my
favorites, cookies, cake, and banana
pudding. Eggs are also used in
various other products from vaccines
to adhesives to cosmetic and beauty
products. Eggs are an important
piece of billions of people’s diets
all over the world. They supply
many vitamins like A, B, and D, as
well as protein, iron, phosphorus,
and omega 3 fatty acids.
(Johnston 5)
Sunday, May 5, 2013

9. Works Cited
• Evanhoe, Rebecca. "Chicken Eggs." Chemical and Engineering News. American
Chemical Society, 21 Aug. 2006. Web. 7 Apr. 2013. <https://pubs.acs.org/cen/
whatstuff/84/8434egg.html>.
• Grosser, Arthur E. "Egg." Chem Matters: 4-9. Print
• Johnston, N. Paul. "Egg." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web. 11
Apr. 2013.<http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar174860>
• "Eggs." Le Catoire Fantasque. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. <http://
www.catoire-fantasque.be/animals/chicken/eggs.html>.
Sunday, May 5, 2013