I have no idea what the right flair for this is, sorry.
In: Physics
Primarily, if the hull of the kernel is damaged in any way, the kernel may not build up the pressure to pop.
Also, if the heat of the kettle is not enough to pop the corn (such as other kernels are wicking away heat when they pop) the heat is still enough to cook the corn, ensuring that it never will, as it is basically scorched.
In addition, if it is an oil-type kettle, there is a need to have enough oil, or again, heat transfer can be enough to fry the kernel, but there isn’t enough oil to provide all the heat you’d need to pop it. Too little, and you can scorch some of the kernels, and too much oil, you can deep fry the kernels which will cause some of them to split in a ‘bad way, releasing the pressure needed for the popping to occur before there is enough heat to cause the moisture in the kernel to expand.
It bears pointing out that hot oil poppers are more efficient at getting the most popcorn out of the kernels you put in, but hot air poppers are, though less gentle (which results in cracked hulls), are healthier.
I work in the cinema exhibitor industry, and yes, there are courses that give you all this information, which is why I have all of this information from working in this industry for 29 years.
As a side note: popcorn kernels are usually either one of a specific number of strains of corn (most common), or they are prepared and dried in a certain way. You CAN pop any corn kernel, but the amount of popcorn you get is much lower than using the kernels that are bred as popcorn kernels.
Too boring? Kernels that don’t pop are a result of being cracked, burned, or cooked at a temperature below what is needed to cause the water to expand, and if you just use ‘regular corn’, the moisture content isn’t right in most of the kernels to get a lot of popped popcorn out of it.
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