# if you ate an uncooked popcorn kernel, would it pop inside you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385 "2011-12-16T05:38:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/21 "2011-12-16T16:05:06Z")
> [@cookie\_eater](#): > > In other words, if you fed a chicken rice, will it cook with the chicken if you bake it? The chicken will probably be overdone if you get it hot enough to cook the rice. All recopies for rice stuffing I am familiar with want you to cook the rice separately before stuffing it into the chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/22 "2011-12-16T16:13:56Z")
> [@cookie\_eater](#): > > What about if you fed a chicken uncooked rice? Does that have a higher or less boiling temperature? Whatever was in the chicken would cook. Although if you roasted it with organs intact, I think you might have to cook a little longer and/or hotter in order for the internal temperature to get high enough to actually “cook” the rice. But remember, you wouldn’t wind up with anything like a roast chicken stuffed with rice. There would only be rice in the digestive tract, not throughout the bird’s whole body cavity, and most of it would be already digested, at least partly. I’d imagine that only whatever was in the [crop](http://www.thewonderofbirds.com/biology/digestive-system/) might still be recognizable as “rice”. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/23 "2011-12-16T16:17:54Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Any heat source will not heat water past the boiling point of water until all the water becomes steam. That has nothing to do with microwaves, it’s just how boiling works. > > Microwave popcorn is coated in oil which has a much much higher boiling temperature, so it gets hot enough to pop the kernels. But aren’t microwave ovens designed to radiate energy at a frequency specifically chosen to excite water molecules? I would have thought that this radiation would be ineffective, or at least less effective, at heating the much larger organic molecules that constitute oil. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/24 "2011-12-16T16:35:30Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > But aren’t microwave ovens designed to radiate energy at a frequency specifically chosen to excite water molecules? I would have thought that this radiation would be ineffective, or at least less effective, at heating the much larger organic molecules that constitute oil. It isn’t specifically chosen to excite water molecules, but it is less effective at heating large organic molecules. From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > A microwave oven works by passing non-ionizing microwave radiation, usually at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz)—a wavelength of 122 millimetres (4.80 in)—through the food. […] Water, fat, and other substances in the food absorb energy from the microwaves in a process called dielectric heating. > [@](#): > > Microwave heating is sometimes explained as a resonance of water molecules, but this is incorrect: such resonance only occurs in water vapor at much higher frequencies, at about 20 GHz.[11] Moreover, large industrial/commercial microwave ovens operating at the common large industrial-oven microwave heating frequency of 915 MHz—wavelength 328 millimetres (12.9 in)—also heat water and food perfectly well. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/25 "2011-12-16T16:38:06Z")
the inside of an unpopped kernel is a pressure vessel. the boiling point of water at that higher pressure is well above the 100C boiling point at sea level atmospheric pressure. there is also oil and starch in the kernel which with the very hot water make the white delicious stuff. the temperature gets to 180C. in pan popping you can add oil to transfer heat to the kernel as well as aid in keeping the kernel from burning if unagitated. you can also heat and agitate without oil to keep from burning like a campfire/fireplace popper. you can heat and agitate without oil like a hot air popper. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/26 "2011-12-16T17:01:48Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Microwave popcorn is coated in oil which has a much much higher boiling temperature, so it gets hot enough to pop the kernels. But you can make popcorn in a microwave that isn’t microwaveable popcorn. I do it all the time - pour a couple of spoonfuls of corn in from the container into a paper bag, close the bag, and heat. No oil or anything. You get a lot of unpopped kernels, but it works. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/27 "2011-12-16T17:15:19Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > If you feed a chicken uncooked rice it will not go hungry. If you teach a chicken to fish, it will not go hungry. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/28 "2011-12-16T17:54:00Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > If you feed a chicken uncooked rice it will not go hungry. > [@kayaker](#): > > If you teach a chicken to fish, it will not go hungry. attempts were unsuccessful, they keep eating the worm. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/29 "2011-12-16T18:12:27Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > attempts were unsuccessful, they keep eating the worm. And therefore, were not hungry. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/30 "2011-12-16T18:28:33Z")
Speaking of feeding chickens uncommon things then cooking them. When my wife was a little girl her mother kept a chicken as a pet. The chicken was fed sesame seeds. One day the chicken got out and was attacked by a dog and killed. Being a good farm girl my mother in law cooked the chicken. My wife says the chicken had the most amazing hint of sesame flavor. ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/31 "2011-12-16T19:09:12Z")
OK, my question, as it relates to the OP’s first question: Why wouldn’t you just try it? You could safely eat a dozen or more popcorn kernels and wait and see what happened… if they popped, the worst that would happen is that you’ve now got a belly full of a dozen popped popcorn kernels. You eat WAY more than that in even a small bag of microwave popcorn. Second question: how could you possibly still wonder whether this would work or not? I don’t know how old you are, but have you really never eaten the unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag? They might be the best part about popcorn (especially the half-popped ones)! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/32 "2011-12-16T19:47:25Z")
how would a person know if kernels had popped internally? ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/33 "2011-12-16T19:47:50Z")
When my dad was a child he would buy bags of unpopped kernels from the movie concession stand. They were called “old maids.” Cruchy and delicious, and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/34 "2011-12-16T20:31:21Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > how would a person know if kernels had popped internally? Because their aluminum foil covering blows up into a dome, how else? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/35 "2011-12-16T20:52:10Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > But you can make popcorn in a microwave that isn’t microwaveable popcorn. I do it all the time - pour a couple of spoonfuls of corn in from the container into a paper bag, close the bag, and heat. No oil or anything. You get a lot of unpopped kernels, but it works. Right, you don’t need any oil at all for this to work properly, so that can’t be why. I never use oil and 80%+ of the kernels pop. ---
**Author:** ![Corresponder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@Corresponder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corresponder)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/36 "2011-12-16T23:21:09Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the inside of an unpopped kernel is a pressure vessel. the boiling point of water at that higher pressure is well above the 100C boiling point at sea level atmospheric pressure. This is probably true to some extent, but it could also be true that that water inside the kernel boils at 100C but then you have to heat the resulting steam to 180C to get enough pressure to burst the capsule of the kernel. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/37 "2011-12-16T23:35:30Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the inside of an unpopped kernel is a pressure vessel. the boiling point of water at that higher pressure is well above the 100C boiling point at sea level atmospheric pressure. there is also oil and starch in the kernel which with the very hot water make the white delicious stuff. the temperature gets to 180C. > [@Corresponder](#): > > This is probably true to some extent, but it could also be true that that water inside the kernel boils at 100C but then you have to heat the resulting steam to 180C to get enough pressure to burst the capsule of the kernel. if the water boiled at 100C then it would be at sea level pressure, the hull is hard and not very porous. ---
**Author:** ![cookie\_eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@cookie\_eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookie_eater)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/38 "2011-12-17T00:15:23Z")
quote: OK, my question, as it relates to the OP’s first question: Why wouldn’t you just try it? You could safely eat a dozen or more popcorn kernels and wait and see what happened… if they popped, the worst that would happen is that you’ve now got a belly full of a dozen popped popcorn kernels. You eat WAY more than that in even a small bag of microwave popcorn. Second question: how could you possibly still wonder whether this would work or not? I don’t know how old you are, but have you really never eaten the unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag? They might be the best part about popcorn (especially the half-popped ones)! I just had this idea that something bad would happen to my stomach if I tried it, and no I don’t eat the unpopped kernels at the bottom of the bag as they hurt my throat a lot. ---
**Author:** ![cookie\_eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@cookie\_eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookie_eater)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/39 "2011-12-17T00:16:46Z")
ie. I usually don’t eat popcorn that much, and if I do, I usually stop before reaching the bottom of the bowl. ---
**Author:** ![cookie\_eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@cookie\_eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookie_eater)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385/40 "2011-12-17T00:20:46Z")
But those kernels are usually a bit broken or burnt, they can’t really pop anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-ate-an-uncooked-popcorn-kernel-would-it-pop-inside-you/606385.md?page=3)