Question

How do endothermic processes affect cooking an egg?

Answer 1

An endothermic process is a change in which energy is absorbed by the system. In case of chemical reactions the energy is absorbed by the reactant molecules.

Complete step by step answer:
The cooking of an egg results in denaturation of proteins present in the egg. The denaturation of proteins is seen as the coagulation of the membranes of the egg in layers.
The cooking of eggs is a physical change which is irreversible. It is an irreversible change because the egg once denatured is not reverted back to its original state by any means. The chemical transformation includes the breakage of sulphur-sulphur bonds. The amino acids present in the egg are not damaged during the change.
When an egg is heated, protein structure changes which causes change in the overall lattice structure. The protein chains are folded up into stable 3D structures which consist of long polypeptide units. The polypeptide has structural characteristics like alpha helix and beta sheets, as well as hydrophobic cores which maintain the structure of the protein intact.
When the egg is cooled new bonds are formed which leads the proteins forming new configurations and new lattice structures are reformed.
Hence the endothermic processes affect cooking an egg by unwinding the protein leading to the denaturation of protein chains.

Note: The unwinding of the protein (denaturation) initially is an exothermic process as the eggs get heated up with loss of energy the process becomes an endothermic step. After the process all of the strands achieve stability by the unwound strands, however the overall process is endothermic in nature.