Is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?

It's hot. For Portland, anyway. So we decided to try to answer the age old question, "Is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?" Being the neat freak that we decided to 'preheat' a pan outside at the peak heat of the day (about 103-104 degrees today). In went two eggs and then the waiting began. Waiting, waiting, waiting. An hour and a half later, the eggs look a bit dry, a little lumpy, but not so much fried.

Me being me, I googled it. Here what I learned (good for all you crossword, Jeopardy types):

"An egg needs a temperature of 158°F to become firm. In order to cook, proteins in the egg must denature (modify), then coagulate, and that won’t happen until the temperature rises enough to start and maintain the process."

"The sidewalk presents several challenges. According to an experiment reported in Robert Wolke’s book, What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, sidewalk temperatures can vary depending on the composition of the sidewalk, whether it is in direct sunlight, and of course, the air temperature. Dark objects absorb more light, so blacktop paving would be hotter than concrete. More often than not, sidewalks are concrete. Wolke found that a hot sidewalk might only get up to 145°F. Once you crack the egg onto the sidewalk, the egg cools the sidewalk slightly. Pavement of any kind is a poor conductor of heat, so lacking an additional heat source from below or from the side, the egg will not cook evenly."