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Video: How Popcorn Pops (in Super Slow Motion)

The team behind the forthcoming six-volume, 2,200-page tome Modernist Cuisine show us exactly what happens to a kernel of popcorn when it's...

Peter Smith
By Peter SmithNov 03, 2010
Peter Smith
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The team behind the forthcoming six-volume, 2,200-page tome Modernist Cuisine show us exactly what happens to a kernel of popcorn when it's heated—at 6,200 frames per second.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qhh2rwIeuo

Since a popcorn kernel is about 15 percent water, heat turns that water into steam, creating pressure inside the hard, non-porous hull. Then, at about 135 psi, it explodes and the starchy endosperm unfolds (via the Modernist Cuisine blog).

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