The Negro world., 1892-07-30
WHY POPCORN POPS.
yot One Person In n Thousand Can Ten
when They Are Asked.


Why does popcorn pop?
Ask the first twenty learned men you
can find and not one of them will be
able to tell you. The secret lies in the
structure of the grain, which is very
wonderful indeed.
In the center of each grain of pop
.orn in the germ" of the future plant
1t holds the vital element of the seed.
What is it like? Well. 1t is about the
size of large pin-head. Its outer coat
IS membrane of woody matter, inside
ing nitrogen and phosphorus. Embed.
ded in this oily substance is the ''nu-
sleus -
The nucleus" is the true germ-the
essential life-principle of the seed. IL
is chiefly composed of albumen. and is
just big enough to be seen with the
naked eye. Small as it is it contains a
mystery which no man has ever solved
or is ever likely to solve-the mighty
secret of reproduction. However. there
are more things of interest to be noticed
in the outer structure of the popcorn
grain.
Gathered around the germ are gran
ules of starch. arranged in layers and
so regularly placed as to resemble a
crystalline structure. In fact, like
crystals, though they are not such,
these granules possess the peculiar
property of polarizing" light. Seen
under the microscope they have very
beautiful forms. Between each two
layers of them is woody membrane,
md covering the whole is the hard ex-
ernal envelope of the corn grain, COM
posed of woody matter with a large
proportion of mineral substances, such
as lime silex, potash and magnesia.
Think what an amazing quantity of
nutritious food is thus packed in little
space for the use of the embryo plant,
which first absorbs the nitrogen and
phosphorus contained in the so-called
germ" envelope, afterward consuming
the starch and so getting ready to
sprout.
A popcorn grain has precisely the
same structure as grain of ordinary
corn. 1t is simply a variety of the sam :
species of plant. Why, then, will not
common corn pop? twill do so, as you
can find out for yourself by trying, but
it does not pop nearly SO well, though
ow and then a grain will do excellent
ly The reason is that the starch
granules in popcorn are packed more
tightly and the woody membranes be-
tween the layers are thinner and more
easily ruptured. Heat causes the water
that is in the starch to expand, the ex-
ternal envelope is burst open and the
grain turns inside out, becoming fifteen
times its original size ca more and
showing the pretty white starch out
side.
That is the reason why popcorn pops.
The best popcorn is the light-yellow
kind with small pointed grains. There
is hardly farm in the west that does
not have its patch of popcorn for home
consumption, but nearly all of the pop
corn raised for market is produced in
New England. A story is told of a
Massachusetts farmer who had barn
half filled with popcorn newly harvest
ed and "shucked" " The building caught
FIRE, the popcorn popped and an enor<
nous wave of 1t rolled down hill, cover
ing up the farm house so that only the
chimneys were to be seen, and the fam
lily had 30 be dug out by the neighbors
with snow shovels. At present the bus
mess of manufacturing buttered pop
corn is conducted on a vast scale in
Chicago and elsewhere, millions OF
packages of it being distributed for sale
all over the United States. s.-Washington
Star