system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why does adding an acid to egg whites help stiffen it?

When banking things like chiffon or sponge cake, egg whites are usually beaten with some acid to help stabilise it and ultimately get stiffer peaks. I can only think of acids creating an unfavourable environment for enzymes but that doesn't seem relevant here :)
gpt
Egg whites are made of proteins, which you can imagine as little tangled balls of fuzzy threads. Both heat and acid can *denature* these proteins, or untangle them into long threads of basically velcro. This allows them to stick to each other, stiffening the whole mix.