Khoa's Space

The egg is one big, giant cell

Every morning, waking up, stretching my shoulders, and finding myself listening to the sizzling sound and the aroma of a chicken egg being fried. Breakfast is ready! Salt and pepper on a sunny-side-up egg. The moment the egg yolk breaks at the slightest touch of a fork, one single cell is broken. Unlike the bell peppers lying on the side, which have countless cells that are broken and sliced, the egg is just one big, giant cell.

If we zoom into the bell pepper, very, very close, we can see that there are countless little rectangular-like shapes, neatly organized under the microscope. They are all tiny little cells that are called cellulose. They are the building blocks of plant life.

Panning to the egg. If we take the egg and put it under the microscope, it will be quite boring. Contrary to the harmony of cells, carefully laid out, we see a homogenous blob of stuff. There are no neatly organized cells. Why, you might ask? Because we are already looking into a cell, there are no cell walls. What we have been cooking is one giant cell.

As I am already thinking of eggs, why are mammal eggs so small relative to their body size when the egg size of reptiles and birds is so big? The egg of the kiwi bird is massive, accounting for 15% to 20% of its body weight.

#egg