You're listening to Sleep Tight Science.

Did you know that popcorn pops because of a special kind of corn kernel?

What?

Inside each kernel, a small amount of water is trapped in a circle of soft starch.

When you heat the kernel, the water becomes steam and builds pressure.

Eventually, the pressure becomes too much, causing the kernel to explode and turn into yummy, fluffy popcorn.

Hello, friends, and welcome back to Sleep Tight Science, a bedtime show that answers

your questions about science.

In this episode, instead of following a specific topic, we will spend all our time together

answering questions that listeners have sent us.

There have been so many questions that we decided to create some special episodes to answer them.

Thank you. to create some special episodes to answer them. Now, let's start with a question submitted to us by Zuri, who is six years old.

Zuri wants to know why ice cubes are both white and clear.

Water is made up of teeny tiny particles called molecules.

These molecules like to stick together and form something we call ice when they get really

cold.

When water freezes and turns into ice, it can sometimes trap tiny bubbles of air, or even some impurities from the water.

These things can make the ice look white or cloudy.

It's a little bit like when you mix bubbles in your bath water,

and it becomes foamy.

But not all ice cubes are white or cloudy.

Some ice cubes can be clear as glass.

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