[Ciubba]

I have determined in lab that a hard boiled egg is denser than a raw egg; however, I am not sure that I entirely understand this phenomenon. Assuming my data is correct, my assumptions are as follows:

     1. Boiling the egg weakened its exterior, allowing water to enter the shell, thus increasing its mass.
     2. The denaturing of the proteins altered the properties of the egg in such a manner that the density of the egg was increased.​

Have I stumbled upon the proper line of inquiry?

[billnotgatez]

I am curious as to how you measured the volume of the eggs you tested before and after the boiling?

[Ciubba]

I am curious as to how you measured the volume of the eggs you tested before and after the boiling?

We weren't allowed to mass the eggs directly, so I added salt to a water solution until the egg appeared to equal its density i.e. it "just floated". At this point, I used a 10 mL glass pipet to mass 10 mL of the solution, which I subtracted from the mass of the glass pipet to obtain the mass of the salt water,. Knowing that the volume of the water was 10 mL, I was able to determine the density.

I'm somewhat confident that my results are correct as I recreated the experiment in my kitchen a few moments ago by placing both a raw egg and a hard boiled egg in the same salt solution. Evidently, the boiled egg sank whilst the raw egg floated. Unfortunately, we have not covered any chemical mechanisms in class that would explain the change in density of the egg.
 

[Borek]

Egg contains an air pocket - if the volume of the proteins changes during denaturation, volume of the air trapped changes as well.

Just a guess.

[Ciubba]

Egg contains an air pocket - if the volume of the proteins changes during denaturation, volume of the air trapped changes as well.

Just a guess.

Edit:Nevermind, I got it.

[billnotgatez]

I have been thinking about this for a while.

I am going to vote for water crossing egg shell barrier and combining with egg contents during denaturing.

I am thinking I might do experiments 
I just got to find someone who eats lots of boiled eggs 


By the way, I hate when someone removes comments as an edit