Microwaving a boiled egg is one of the most dangerous things you can do in the kitchen

PUT down the egg and step away from the microwave. If you thought you could get away with hard-boiling an egg in the microwave, think again.

COOKING eggs in the microwave might seem like a timesaving hack, but it could end in disaster.

Recently a man tried to sue a US restaurant after a hard-boiled egg he was served exploded in his mouth and, he claims, damaged his hearing.

The case was settled out of court, but scientists have continued to research what happens when boiled eggs are reheated in this way.

According to IFL Science, researchers began their investigations by watching YouTube videos of microwaved eggs exploding.

Boiling eggs in the microwave can have messy and dangerous consequences

They then did further research, discovering that sometimes eggs explode while being cooked in the gadget, but 30 per cent of them didn’t ‘pop’ until taken out and prodded with a sharp object.

Being scientists, they used a water bath to conduct their experiments rather than a standard 800-watt microwave people might have at home.

The results proved that if an egg does burst, it can be as loud as lightning or a chainsaw, but as the sound is over quickly it was near impossible for the mystery diner to have lost his hearing from his boiled egg drama.

Scientist Anthony Nash said: “On a statistical basis, the likelihood of an egg exploding and damaging someone’s hearing is quite remote.

“It’s a little bit like playing egg roulette.”

If an egg does burst, it can be as loud as lightning or a chainsaw

The geeks at IFL Science added: “[The study] found that in both the exploded eggs and those that didn’t explode, the yolk’s temperature was much higher than the surrounding water. This suggests the yolk is more receptive to the microwave radiation than pure water.

“This may be due to the protein in the egg trapping pockets of water in the yolk, which are then superheated well above the boiling temperature of tap water.

“When these pockets are disturbed, either by poking the egg or biting into it, they all boil in a chain reaction and explode.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission.