December 3, 2007  Can popcorn pop underwater?  Surprisingly
enough, when you google this question, you don't get an answer.
Popcorn works by heating up the tiny amount of water in the
kernel, which then forces open the watertight shell, causing the
little explosion of tasty goodness. It takes a minute or so in
an air popper to heat the kernel to the point of popping. So it
would seem that you could toss some kernels into a pot of
boiling water for a minute and achieve the same effect - the
water heats up the kernel, which pops. But what would the result
be of a kernel popping underwater?  I got conflicting ideas from
some superstars of chemistry. Erik felt that popcorn wouldn't do
anything underwater because of density or air pressure or lava
or something. I wasn't really paying attention. Patrick thought
that the kernels would pop, sending droplets of hot water
shooting into the air. He was ok with my experimenting in the
microwave but told a long and intricate tale about how he
wouldn't take me to the emerg