Increasing the Size of a Piece of Popcorn

TL;DR

This paper explores how reducing surrounding pressure can increase popcorn kernel size during popping, using thermodynamic analysis and experiments to validate the theory.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic approach to increase popcorn size by lowering ambient pressure, supported by experimental validation.

Findings

Significant increase in kernel size at lower pressure

Thermodynamic model accurately predicts size expansion

Potential for larger popcorn through pressure manipulation

Abstract

Popcorn is an extremely popular snack food in the world today. Thermodynamics can be used to analyze how popcorn is produced. By treating the popping mechanism of the corn as a thermodynamic expansion, a method of increasing the volume or size of a kernel of popcorn can be studied. By lowering the pressure surrounding the unpopped kernel, one can use a thermodynamic argument to show that the expanded volume of the kernel when it pops must increase. In this project, a variety of experiments are run to test the validity of this theory. The results show that there is a significant increase in the average kernel size when the pressure of the surroundings is reduced.