Photography by Ian L. Sitren

Posts tagged “egg experiment”

Can You Really Fry an Egg in the Palm Springs Sun?

Every summer you’ve probably heard the old saying that it’s so hot in Palm Springs you can fry an egg outside. So I decided to stop repeating the story and actually test it.

This may be one of the most exciting videos you’ll ever watch. If you’ve always wanted to experience the thrill of watching an egg very slowly think about cooking, you’re in luck. It may even rival watching paint dry.

When I attempted this experiment, the temperature in Palm Springs was between 112 and 114 degrees. Around here, that’s just another summer day. Before I headed outside, I checked with Emily, my AI assistant and frequent collaborator on many of my photography projects. She suggested we would probably need a temperature of at least 118 degrees for the experiment to have a realistic chance of success.

So I cracked an egg into a frying pan that had been sitting in the direct sun for hours next to my swimming pool. Then… we waited.

And waited.

The result? Not exactly breakfast.

The egg white barely changed, although by the end of the experiment the yolk had finally started to cook. It turns out Emily may have been right. Mother Nature simply came up a few degrees short.

Fortunately, I don’t consider this a failure. I consider it an experiment. The next time Palm Springs reaches one of those truly extreme summer days, I’ll try it again. By then I’ll have an infrared thermometer to measure the surface temperature of the pan, and maybe we’ll finally settle the question of whether the desert sun alone can fry an egg.

Until then, I can officially report that at 112 to 114 degrees, the egg remained only cautiously optimistic.

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Thank You!

August 3, 2026 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment