• Question: what makes popcorn pop? is that a sort of question I can ask?

    Asked by khaki to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 17 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by beccawilko.
    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      I suppose you can ask whatever you like! Especially if it’s about popcorn, which is one of my favourite snacks. The outside of a popcorn kernel is really hard. If you heat up the softer inside, the pressure on the outside starts to increase. If you increase the pressure enough the insides can break open the shell and explode outwards.

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      I can’t add anything to Angus’ answer, I think he’s done a good job about explaining why popcorn pops!

      But, I will say, you can ask any science question you like! I’m sure the other scientist agree, we’ll do our very best to answer!

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 17 Jun 2013:

      I wasn’t even sure how to answer this question, so I learned something today 🙂

      To add at least some valuable piece of information, this popping also happens when you roast coffee beans, and they even pop twice, not only once (please don’t ask me why…).

    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I can’t add much to Angus’s answer, except to say that the pressure build up inside the kernel is due to water evaporating and generating pressure

      I would say you can ask anything you like! many scientific principles can be explained and observed by looking at the world around us!

    • Photo: Hannah Bentham

      Hannah Bentham answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Ofcourse you can ask this… great question.

      Popcorn pops because when heated, the moist inside of the seed expands and puffs up. There’s a build up of pressure until the hard shell breaks and POPS!

      Popcorn – delicious with salt or sugar 🙂

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