why does popcorn seem to pop at a somewhat consistent rate regardless of the amount, instead of all of them popping closer to at the same time?

Question

why does popcorn seem to pop at a somewhat consistent rate regardless of the amount, instead of all of them popping closer to at the same time?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Popcorn has a few layers. A core of water surrounded by starch and then a harder outer shell. The way popcorn pops is that water begins to boil and causes the kernel to explode. All of the kernels will get to the point where the water is expanding at slightly different times based on how the kernels are being heated, as well as how hard the starch/shell is in comparison to other kernels.