Monday, August 20, 2007

Popcorn experiment

Suzanne asks what the increase in volume is when a popcorn kernel is popped. I thought in my head that it might be 16 times. Then I made the popcorn. Guess I'm an empericist after all.

I started with this:


Popcorn (before popping)

I popped the corn using a Whirly-Pop hand-crank stovetop popcorn popper. It popped all of the kernels. I kid you not - I looked inside for any laggers, and there were none.


After popping, I had this:

Popcorn (post popping)

Now, the measuring cup on the left I tried really hard to level off at 4 cups. The one on the right has what was left. Let's say between the 2 there is one more cup. So 1/4 cup became 9 cups of popped corn - an increase of 4 x 9 = 36. A 36-fold increase in volume! That's my answer. Repetition, of course, would improve the precision.

Thanks to all of you for the input on the scarf! What did I go with? I'll give a hint. It's E) None of the above, and I may have taken a page from Brooklyntweed. Stay tuned this week for a yarny prize, more scarf action, old FOs, new LYSs, and who knows what!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to go wrong following Jared's lead.

Kitchen chemistry, one of our favorite passtimes, but then we're both science geeks.

Anonymous said...

Are you going to use the blue and gold with anything else, or just run with it? I love the effect of the Silk Garden, and am, in fact, halfway through one myself. I'm in trouble if I ever run out of relatives with cold necks...

Grace said...

I learn something new every time I visit your blog!

Anonymous said...

I'm slowly discovering the wonders of kitchen chemistry! As for the scarf - TELL US!! Now. Please. :)

PS: I'm already doing the cleaner-once-a-week thing! If I had to clean the house on top of everything else, I'd go MAD!