TITLE: Six yolks in a bowl: Why not optimal circle packing?
QUESTION [29 upvotes]: Making soufflé tonight, I wondered if the six yolks took on the
optimal circle packing configuration.
They do not. It is only with seven congruent circles that the optimal
packing places one in the center.

Q.
  Why don't the yolks in a bowl follow the optimal packing of congruent
  circles in a circle?


          


          

Six yolks in a bowl.


          


          

Image from Wikipedia.
Optimal packings for $5,6,7$ circles.

REPLY [12 votes]: What do you mean, "the yolks don't follow optimal packing"? Sure they do. The configuration with one yolk in the center has the exact same radius as the one with six yolks distributed along the edge.
It also has lower potential energy, thus the 6-circle solution you cited is a non-global optimum at best. In fact it's probably metastable, given egg yolks' general tendency to be squishy blobs instead of perfect circles.