I have noticed that whenever you buy franks (frankfurters), they come in the package straight. But whenever I boil them in water, they get wavy shaped. I believe the world is fundamentally quantum, so this should have something to do with wave nature of matter:), but I am happy with any kind of explanation, may that be classical or quantum.
If I boil the franks too for long, they get torn apart, but I do understand that to some level, because the internal kinetic energy (molecular vibration) inside will be too much for the outer layer (peal) to hold, and will get torn. Basically the internal parts will expand too much. But in the case of this wavy shape, I have no understanding of how this gets created. The only thing I can think of is that one part of the franks tries to curl one way, the other part the other way, like the franks is made up of sections.
Question:
- Why do franks (hot dogs) get wavy shaped when boiled?
Best Answer
Sausages are usually made with a particular type of casing (frequently collagen and cellulose, since early 2000s) and it's not often you will find a sausage whose casing is perfectly uniform at all points around the sausage. Obviously the sausage expands as it is cooked, and given some parts of the casing have different consistency to others (one point can handle stress/stretching more than another), then this expansion will not be uniform, hence the waviness.