• Question: What makes popcorn pop?

    Asked by meg123 to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 18 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 18 Jun 2012:

      Hi meg!
      Popcorn is a little damp inside, and has a hard water proof shell. When you heat it up, the little bit of water inside starts to boil, turning into steam. Steam needs a whole lot more space than water did, so the pressure increases inside the corn kernel until it goes pop and all the steam has space to expand and shape your popcorn!
      Here’s a great article all about popcorn – it’s on the NASA space agency website, so really important science! Goes to show it’s a great question. Enjoy! 🙂

      http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/popcorn.html

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