Question: why does popcorn pop?x

Tiffany Taylor answered on 13 Jun 2012:

Popcorn, as you may have noticed, is a seed which has a very hard shell. Within this shell is all the things that would eventually make it grown into a plant – including some water. When you heat the popcorn this water turns into steam, which presses on the hard shell and causes it to “pop”. The white stuff is just all the starchy stuff inside (also used for plant growth).

I’ll be honest – I had to look this one up. But now I know!