Perfect Temperature for Popping Corn Revealed
The scientists in France have been researching on popcorn, and now they know the critical temperature when the popcorn bursts. They have found that the outer shell of the popcorn bursts open when it reaches a threshold of 180C, irrespective of the size and shape of the grain. Now one knows as to why the popcorn jumps as it bursts, and the sudden sound made. As BBC reports, the complete process of bursting and popping up happens in hundredths of a second. The French physicists Alexandre Ponomarenko and Emmanuel Virot have studied each stage of making popcorn and the scientific basis behind.
The scientists made use of high-speed cameras that captured at 2,900 frames per second and shot the popcorn placed in a heated oven. The researchers raised the temperature by 10C over five minutes. As the temperature crossed 100C, the moisture inside the corn began to turn into steam. When the temperature rose to 180C, the pressure inside was now ten times the atmospheric pressure at sea level. The outer shell breaks when it is unable to endure the stress. The starchy material inside expands and forces its way out through the shattered hull. The scientists found that at 170C, only 34% of the corn kernels popped, but at 180C, about 96% of the corn kernels had burst.
As told to the news agency, the scientists believe that the critical temperature to make perfect popcorns in about 180C, regardless of the size or shape. The first thing that emerges from the cracked hull is a limb-shaped structure also called the starchy "leg". It pushes against the hot plate and makes the flake jump up to the height of a few millimeters to centimeters in the air. The researchers also studied the particular popping sound made by the corn and found that it was made before the jumping action.
