
Eddie Mair 4pm - 6pm
At which point does an egg cease to be an egg?
At which point does an egg cease to be an egg?
Andy, Canterbury
** Definitive **
Name: Professor Howe, University of Brighton
Qualification: Professor of the Public Understanding of Science
Answer: A human egg has got 23 chromosomes which is called a haploid number which is half the number of chromosomes (in a human). Once an egg becomes fertilised by a sperm it becomes a diploid number (46 chromosomes). At that point it ceases to be an egg. At the moment of fertilisation it becomes a zygote. Which then turns into an embryo which the turns into a baby. We can do the exact same analogy with chickens’ eggs. The moment it’s fertilised it’s no longer an egg, it’s a zygote. As soon as the haploid number becomes diploid, it’s no longer an egg.