Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Reconstitution of Cell-cycle Oscillations in Microemulsions of Cell-free Xenopus Egg Extracts
Published on: September 27, 2018
Exploring non-equilibrium processes and spatio-temporal scaling laws in heated egg yolk using coherent X-rays
Nimmi Das Anthuparambil1,2, Anita Girelli3, Sonja Timmermann4
1Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607, Hamburg, Germany. nimmi.das.anthuparambil@desy.de.
Abstract:
The soft-grainy microstructure of cooked egg yolk is the result of a series of out-of-equilibrium processes of its protein-lipid contents; however, it is unclear how egg yolk constituents contribute to these processes to create the desired microstructure. By employing X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, we investigate the functional contribution of egg yolk constituents: proteins, low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), and yolk-granules to the development of grainy-gel microstructure and microscopic dynamics during cooking. We find that the viscosity of the heated egg yolk is solely determined by the degree of protein gelation, whereas the grainy-gel microstructure is controlled by the extent of LDL aggregation. Overall, protein denaturation-aggregation-gelation and LDL-aggregation follows Arrhenius-type time-temperature superposition (TTS), indicating an identical mechanism with a temperature-dependent reaction rate. However, above 75 °C TTS breaks down and temperature-independent gelation dynamics is observed, demonstrating that the temperature can no longer accelerate certain non-equilibrium processes above a threshold value.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
Isothermal Processes
An ideal gas can also undergo isothermal expansion or compression.
For example, consider 1 mole of an ideal gas inside an isolated cylinder at initial volume V...
X-ray Diffraction of Biological Samples
According to Bragg's law, when X-rays strike the sample positioned on a stage, the rays are scattered by the electron clouds around the sample atoms. The X-ray diffraction or scattering is caused by constructive interference of the X-ray waves that reflect off the internal...

