Las Vegas fourth-grader puts egg-frying experiment to test

Brody Vanwagoner said he learned a little something about eggs and sidewalks in his fourth-grade class at Staton Elementary School.

“There was like this idiom at school that ‘it’s so hot you can fry an egg on the sidewalk,’ so I just wanted to see if you could actually do that — to see if it’ll actually fry,” he said Thursday in front of his Summerlin home.

So late Thursday morning, the 9-year-old grabbed a frying pan and an egg and put the theory to the test.

Results were mixed, Brody said, noting the egg turned an unusual shade of orange. “It kind of cooked a little, but I didn’t taste it,” he said later Thursday.

Not to be deterred, the fourth-grader said he intends to try again. He said he thinks the weather needs to be a little hotter to get the job done.

That time could arrive sooner rather than later, after Thursday’s 96-degree high tied a record for the date set more than 70 years ago on April 25, 1946. And Friday’s high temperature is forecast to reach 95 degrees, two degrees shy of the record daily high, set in 1996. Tying that record is within reach, National Weather Service forecaster Chris Outler said Thursday. “It’s definitely possible we could touch up to 97.”

Brody’s mom, Jill Vanwagoner, said her son has had eggs on his mind lately. Thursday morning, she said, he tried to prank her. “He told me, ‘Mom, did you know that if you squish an egg in your hand it won’t break?” She didn’t fall for it, she said. “I’m too smart.”

It turns out it’s his sister, Reese, who’s the family prankster. “One time I hid all the dishes in the house in my room and in our dressers,” she said.

Contact Marian Green at mgreen@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0287. Follow @mgreen0708 on Twitter.