LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams

10B
23September2014
PercentageofWaterinaPopcornKernel
ProblemStatement:
Howmuchmassislostduetoevaporationwhenapopcornkernelpops
?
Hypothesis:
About14%ofmasswillbelostduetowaterevaporatingwhenakernelpops.
Materials:
(10)Popcornkernels
Heatplate
Scoopula
250mLErlenmeyerflask

Procedures:

Testtubetongs
Heatmitt
Analyticalbalance(0.0001precision)
(1)Weighboat

1.

Preheattheheatplatetoaround400C.

2.

Whiletheheatplateisheatingup,weigheachkernel.

3.

PlaceonekernelintotheErlenmeyerflask.

4.

Usingtongs,placetheErlenmeyerflaskontotheheatplate.

5.

StirincirclesslowlywiththeErlenmeyerflaskkeepingcontacttoevenouttheheat.

6.

Oncepopped,removefromthetheErlenmeyerflaskfromthehotplatewiththetongsand
pickitupwiththeheatmitt.

7.

QuicklyremovethepoppedpopcornfromtheErlenmeyerflaskbytippingitover.Ifthe
poppedpopcornisstuck,usethescoopulatoremoveit.

8.

Waitforthepoppedpopcorntocoolsothatallofthemoisturehasleftthepopcornand
weighagain.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
Diagram:

Figure1.Materials
Figure1displaysthematerialsusedintheexperiment.Theweighboatcouldnotbe
included.Theheatplatewasusedtopopthepopcornandtheanalyticalbalancewasusedto
weighbeforeandaftereachtrial.Thetongsandheatmittwereusedtotransportthe250mL
erlenmeyerflaskandthescoopulawasusedtoscoopthepopcornoutoftheflask.
DataandObservations:
Thedatathatwasusedwastemperature,mass,masslost,andpercentageofmassloss.
Temperaturewasfoundbywhatwasmarkedontheheatplate.Masswasmeasuredonthe
analyticalbalanceandthenreweighedaftertheitwaspopped.Usinganequationfoundlaterin
thispart,thepercentofmasslosscouldbefound.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
Table1
ObservationsofthePopcornPopping

Trial

Observation

Kernelonetookover5minutestopop,whichissignificantlylongerthananyother
kernel.Itwassteamingwhenitwastakenoutoftheflaskanditwasmuchflatterthan
anyotherthatwepopped.Itwasalsosteamingafteritpopped.

Kerneltwoalsotookquiteawhilebutnotnearlyaslongasthefirstone.Wealso
turneduptheheatatthispointbecausethehotplatewasfiguredtobebroken.Onceit
popped,itwassteaming.Alsomultipleburnerswereactiveatthistime.

Kernelthreewasalsopoppedonthebelievedtobebrokenburner.Itwasafastertime
becausetheburnerhadfinishedheating.Oncepopped,itwassteaming.

Kernelfourwasthefirstonethatpoppedontheotherburner,italsowentfasterthan
oneandtwo.Oncepopped,itwassteaming.

Kernelfivewaspoppedonthebelievedtobebrokenburnerandpoppeddecently
quickly.

Kernelsixisnoticeablylargerthantheotherkernels,andhasbeenshowntohave
largermassthananyoftheotherkernels.Whenpopped,kernelsixithadaverylarge
shape.

Kernelsevenwaspoppedontheotherburner.Timewasrunninglowsoitwascooled
asmuchastheotherkernels.

Kerneleightwaspoppedonthebelievedtobebrokenburner.Again,timewas
runninglowsoitwashadtocoolthisonefaster.

Kernelninewaspoppedontheotherburnerandontheheaviersideforkernels.When
popped,itwasmuchbiggerthantherest.

10

Kerneltenwaspoppedonthebelievedtobebrokenburner.Itwentwellanddidnot
takeaslongasthefirstthree.

Table1isalistoftheobservationsmadeforeachkernelthatwaspopped.Thesewere
recordedduringthetrialsastheobservationsweremade.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
Table2
CollectedDatafromthePopcornPopping

Kernel

MassBefore(g)

MassAfter(g)

MassLoss(g)

%MassLoss

0.1766

0.1419

0.0347

19.65

0.1980

0.1247

0.0733

37.02

0.1617

0.1403

0.0214

13.23

0.1740

0.1493

0.0247

14.19

0.1822

0.1611

0.0211

11.58

0.2193

0.1700

0.0493

22.48

0.1935

0.1672

0.0263

13.59

0.1482

0.1283

0.0199

13.42

0.1918

0.1110

0.0808

42.13

10

0.1537

0.1354

0.0183

11.91

Sum

1.799

0.3698

199.2

Mean

0.1799

0.0369

19.92


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
Table2isthedatacollectedoverthecourseoftheexperiment,alongwiththemeansof
themassesandtheaveragepercentofmasslost.Apartfromthemeansanddata,thetable
includestheamountofmassloss,andthepercentagesofmasslossineachkernel.

M assLoss = MassBefore MassAfter

MassLoss
%MassLoss = MassBefore
* 100
Figure2.ConversionFormulaforMassLossand%MassLoss

Figure2showshowthemasslossandpercentagewascalculated.Bysubtractingmass
afterfrommassbeforeyougetthedifference.Whenyoutakethemasslostanddivideitbythe
initialmassandmultiplyitby100,yougetthepercentagelost.

Figure3.PercentageMassLoss
Figure3comparesthepercentageofmassloss.Asthegraphdisplays,therearetwotrials
thathaveaveryhighpercentofmassloss.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
DataAnalysisandInterpretation:

Figure4.AmountofWaterinPopcorn
Figure4istwoboxplotsthatcomparetheamountofwaterinthepopcornkernelsbefore
andafterpopping.TheIQRofthemassbeforeis0.0138andtherearenooutliers.TheIQRof
themassafteris0.0378andtherearenooutliers.Eachquartileforthemassafterislowerthan
thecorrespondingquartileofthemassbefore.Thisdemonstrateshowthemassafterisgenerally
lowerthanthemassbefore.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
Table3
StandardDeviation

MassLoss(g)

DeviationFrom
Mean(g)

Deviation
Squared

Trial1

0.0347

0.0022

0.000005

Trial2

0.0733

0.0364

0.001325

Trial3

0.0214

0.0155

0.00024

Trial4

0.0247

0.0122

0.000149

Trial5

0.0211

0.0158

0.00025

Trial6

0.0493

0.0124

0.000154

Trial7

0.0263

0.0106

0.000112

Trial8

0.0199

0.017

0.000289

Trial9

0.0808

0.0439

0.001927

Trial10

0.0183

0.0186

0.000346

Mean

0.0369

0.004797

0.004797
9

= 0.023

Table3showsthestandarddeviationofthemasslostinthepopping.Thisshowshowfar
theaveragedistancefrommeanafterthepopping.Firstthedifferencefromthemeanisfoundfor
eachtrialandthenumbersaresquaredtomakethempositive.Fromthere,thesquareddeviants
areaddedandthendividedbyonelessthanthetotalnumberoftrialsandthenthesquarerootis
foundtogettheanswer.
Conclusion:
Thehypothesiswasrejected.Insteadof14%theaveragepercentofmasslostwasabout
20%.Areasonforthesuchahighaveragemighthavetodowithkerneltwolosingalmost40%
ofitsmassandkernelninelosingmorethan40%.Kerneltwosimmenseweightlossmighthave
7


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014
beencausedbyacoupleofreasons,thereasonthatseemsmostlikelyisthatitmayhavebeen
accidentallyswitchedwithoneoftheotherkernels.Thiscanalsoexplainwhykernelninelost
morethan40%ofitsmass.
Theexacttemperaturethatisgoodforpoppingpopcorncouldnotbefoundbecausethe
heatlossmaychangedependingonthedifferentvariablessuchashumidity,whatthepopcornis
in,thebrand,andaccuracyoftheburner.Theburnerwassetto400C,whichmayhavebeenoff
byafewdegrees,anditworkedwell.Highertemperatureswereusedinthepretrialandfound
thatthekernelsgotscorchedeasierandburntafterpopping.Whentheburnerwastoolow,it
wouldtakealongtimetopop.
Theoutershellofthepopcornisthehull,andinsidepopcornthereiswaterandstarch.
Thehullandstarcharethepartsthatisseeninthepoppedpopcorn.Whenheated,thewater
startstoevaporateintosteam,whichincreasesthepressureinthehull.Thesteamtakesupmore
spacethanthewaterandexpandswithanoutwardforce.ThePopcornpopsbecausethehull
providesastrongopposingforcetothepressureofthesteaminthekernel.Onceenoughofthe
pressureisbuiltup,thehullbreaksandthestarchexpands.Mostofthewateratthispointhas
evaporatedandleftthepopcorn,thisishowthewatermassislostfromthekernel.Thisalso
provesthattheinitialmasswillalwaysexceedthemassofthepoppedpopcorn.
Scorchedtrialsshouldnotbecountedfor.Whenapopcornkernelscorches,allofits
waterhaseitherbeenevaporatedandleftthekernelortherewasnone.Thewaterkeepsthe
kernelfrombeingscorchedandpopsitrightbeforethescorchingwouldstart.Therecouldalso
bethechanceoftherenotbeingenoughwaterinthekernelforittopopandcausingthesame
amountofmasstobeleftifnotmore.


LawrenceMcCloskeyWilliams
10B
23September2014