ELI5:What’s the difference between beating separately and folding in, and just beating it together? Doesn’t it both accomplish the purpose of mixing it?

Question

This is regarding egg white and yolk mixing.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

As said, folding keeps the air in the mix.
So for example if you were making a chocolate meringue, to add chocolate to the mix you would mix it in a portion of the egg mixture to make sure it was fully mixed through. Then fold it through the remaining mixture to keep as much air in while passing the ingredient through.