In daily life, we see eggs in their shells, or we see them when they’re broken, the transparent albumen oozing away from the yellow yolk. But 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface of the ocean, there’s a never-before-seen third option.
Researchers at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences they got to wondering what would happen if they cracked an uncooked egg 60 feet underwater, where pressures are 2.8 times higher than at the surface.
The results were pretty cool, as the egg maintained virtually the same form it had within the shell.
Deep underwater, a cracked egg doesn’t immediately loose its structure as it does in the open air.
Instead, the surrounding water assumes the role of the eggshell, exerting enough inward pressure on the egg (2.8 times atmospheric pressure, to be exact) to keep it intact, as demonstrated in this video from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences’ “Water Moves” series.
