David got out a saucepan and filled it with water. He put the saucepan on a burner and lit it. Ten minutes later the water was boiling. David took an egg out of the fridge and dropped it in.
Splat.
Now David had lots of eggshell and what looked like eggdrop soup mixed together in the saucepan. He threw it out and tried again. He refilled the saucepan, boiled fresh water and took another egg out of the fridge. This time he lowered the egg gently into the water.
Splat.
David looked at the resulting mess. Clearly, boiled eggs weren't as easy to make as he'd imagined. He eyed the fridge. Only two eggs left. He eyed the microwave.
According to his report, it takes a microwaved egg about eighty seconds to detonate. Trust a scientist to need experimental data. David washed the tell-tale shrapnel out of the machine. There was a form of technology he decided to use: the phone. Knowing better than to call me, he called Gloria, the wife of his college roommate. (Gloria has helped David through any number of cooking tribulations.)
Gloria explained to David all about the way hot things and cold things expand and contract, and why putting hot things and cold things together can have unfortunate results. We will ignore for the moment the fact that David has a PhD in physics. Males are missing the part of the brain which understands eggs. It's a guy thing.
-- Tell about the fate of the remaining egg (poor thing!) --
-- Write some material on the physics of boiling eggs --
Fill a saucepan with cold water. Gently put in an egg from the refrigerator. The egg should be covered and there should be at least one inch of saucepan left above the water so as to avoid having the whole thing boil over.
Put the saucepan on the stove and turn the burner to high. The water should boil inside of 10 minutes. Don't forget to watch it!
For a soft-boiled egg, leave the egg boiling in the water for 2.5 minutes after the water boils. For a hard-boiled eggs, leave it for 10 minutes.
Remove the egg from the water and run it under cold water to prevent it from continuing to cook in the shell. Serve and eat. But remove the shell, first!