Science Mysteries Answered

Many people like the delicious popcorn. But how does one tiny hard disgusting kernel, become a puffy popcorn???? I took this to the next level, I searched and searched for the perfect answer to my question. Through my research I have found, that a popcorn kernel needs 4 things, to make it pop. The first thing surprised me a little. Popcorn needs to have somewhere between 16% to 19% of water. The next critical thing on the list is, The actual kernel has to be strong enough to withstand the steam inside of the popcorn until the inside is fully cooked. Next, the outer shell of the popcorn has to be perfect, no dents or cracks. I thought that that was pretty obvious. Finally, the temperature has to be perfect for enough steam pressure to burst the kernel in to delicious nutritious popcorn.






Another interesting science mystery has yet to be answered. In school, I did a lab, a lab unlike others. We filled an ordinary soda can with a little bit of water, we heated it up, and dunked it into ice cold water. We heard a pop, like a balloon. I took a look at the can, it was crushed. I couldn't find a definite solution for this awesome mystery, so I made a hunch. I knew it was something that had to do with air pressure. I also knew that hot air is denser and cold air is not. The last piece of information I knew was that hot air rises and cold air sinks. But all those don't matter for my hunch. From chemistry, I learned that hot air expands while cold air huddles. My guess is that when the water in the can was hot, the molecules expanded. But, when it came in contact the the extremely cold water, the density disappeared and the popping sound occured because the can shrunk and got squashed.