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General Science => Question of the Week => Topic started by: thedoc on 22/07/2009 16:33:24

Title: QotW - 09.07.19 - Why does cereal go Snap, Crackle and Pop!?
Post by: thedoc on 22/07/2009 16:33:24
Hello, Naked Scientists, could you please tell me what's happening when you hear the snap, crackle and pop with Rice Crispies?  Thank you.
Asked by David Stockden

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Title: QotW - 09.07.19 - Why does cereal go Snap, Crackle and Pop!?
Post by: thedoc on 22/07/2009 16:33:24
We put this to Paul Wheeler:

Hi my name is Paul Wheeler and I work for Kelloggs.

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F%2Fforum%2Fcopies%2FRTEmagicC_800px-Rice_bubble_cake_ingredients.JPG.jpg&hash=142fee129863614b3b35e1f8a7076fbb)It’s actually a really simple processes it’s got a lot to do with compression.  What we do is we take little grains of rice.  We soak them in water, add our secret ingredient to it and then we cook the rice at a really high temperature.  What happens then is the rice puffs up and little air pockets form inside the grains of rice.  Now also when you cook this kind of thing, rice, at such high temperature the starch molecules kind of begin to bond together and what that does is if you were to take a rice crispie out of the packet and look at it under a microscope.  You would see the actual surface of the rice becomes more brittle and actually more transparent.  So what happens is when you pour the cold liquid onto the rice crispie the small bubbles of air that we’ve got, they collapse in on themselves and the rice that’s crisped up through the cooking process collapses as well and that’s where you get the sound-effect from, your listeners will hear when they pour their milk on their cereal.  Its a really, really a simple process and actually people looked at the surface of the milk when that’s happening they can actually see the air bubbles rise up and appear.

Title: QotW - 09.07.19 - Why does cereal go Snap, Crackle and Pop!?
Post by: bdelanghe on 17/07/2009 18:16:57
The cereal is puffed with air. These air bubbles are then trapped when the cereal is cooked. When milk is introduced the starchy coating becomes saturated and can no longer hold in the air. The air pockets breaking through the starchy shells produce the Snap, Crackle, and Pop we love so much.
Title: QotW - 09.07.19 - Why does cereal go Snap, Crackle and Pop!?
Post by: paul.fr on 17/07/2009 19:00:06
Soul Surfer, and Daveshorts previously answered a similar question
Snap, crackle and pop (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=6718.0)
Title: QotW - 09.07.19 - Why does cereal go Snap, Crackle and Pop!?
Post by: thedoc on 21/07/2009 17:53:08
Did we mention your answer on air?  Listen to the answer to this question on our podcast to find out... (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2009.07.19/)