Nothing heralds summertime and its star - spangled main event quite like a crimson , ripe , juicywatermelon . That is , unless your angelical , refreshing sweet should begin to spit , hiss and foam , and then go KABLOOEY , spirt putrid juice all over your picnic or – pop off the thought – spewing drippy melon gut all over your kitchen or festive tablescape .
So just how obnoxious can one fruit be , you ask ?
For the most part , you ’ll never meet a more pleasantsnackthan the Citrullus vulgaris . It ’s like the John Candy or Labrador retriever of yield . But every now and then , like other things in life , you run into a forged one . And when you do , there ’s no need to gross out out or disavow theCitrullus lanatus . Instead , be rummy and amazed , as an exploding Citrullus vulgaris unquestionably crap for a really weird sciencestoryto tell your admirer or , comfortably yet , a jaw - dropping YouTube video recording :
So what ’s going on when a watermelon turns prankster and explodes ?
Walter Reeves Weighs In
The garden guru of the Southeast , Walter Reeves , akaThe Georgia Gardener , order in an email that what ’s endure on is the process of fermentation .
" It ’s happen because the watermelon is full of sugar and a flying maturate bacterium or fungus got in there somehow and it is fermenting . Maybe it got nose by something on the trip home or maybe it had an unnoticed blotch disease contagion , " he say .
" Fermentation do many unlike chemical to be produce . Some feeling of alcohol , some smell of vinegar , some are floral , etc . Fermentation bring forth carbon dioxide gas , which hisses as it comes out of the rind under slight air pressure . So the dim-witted reply is that a Citrullus vulgaris can ferment inside and the pressure can get various effects , " pronounce the retired radio and idiot box host , authorand hebdomadary horticulture editorialist for the Atlanta Journal - Constitution .
reckon the ' fizzes - like - crazy ' sound a soda take in when you shake up the can before you open it .
Bacterialinfectioncan be another reason why a watermelon separate .
" Bacterial blotch disease comes from infected germ and only affect the rind , " says Reeves . " It does not spread into the inside . But if the splodge fissure , other bacteria and fungi can go through the cracks to the DoI of the yield and begin ferment . If you find an infected Citrullus vulgaris with only a small blotch on the rind , the Department of the Interior should befine . But if the interior smells bad or seems watery , do n’t deplete it . "
watermelon are more than 90 percentwater . So what bump when a Citrullus vulgaris bursts ?
" It expels fluid violently , " sound out Reeves . Think mini volcanic eruption .
" set off , " state Reeves , " can be triggered by genetic factors that regulate rind heaviness , sugary flesh and small fruit size of it . Thin rind + extremely honeyed pulp ( which readily absorbs water ) = BOOM ! on a live twenty-four hours . "
The Exploding Watermelon Gene
So , is it on-key that there ’s an " exploding factor " ?
Citrullus vulgaris splitting or " explode " can also be cause by the explosive rind gene which is found in many heirloom varieties . Dr. Penelope Perkins - Veazie , a industrial plant physiologist and prof of horticulture at North Carolina State University ( NCSU ) , say in an e-mail that the explosive rind factor wasidentifiedback in 1937 . Basically it do the fruit rind to explode or split when skip .
" So a little bulge will pop the rind loose and the turgor pressure in the fruit pushes flesh far and full , " tell Perkins - Veazie . " Triploid [ or seedless ] watermelons require diploid [ seeded ] pollinator , but usually agriculturalist do n’t want a lot of large sown watermelon to glean . So incorporate the explosive rind factor into the small fruit , seedy pollinator fruit think of they can be stepped on , destroyed , but yield are lowly enough ( unremarkably medal sized ) so they wo n’t squirt all over the seedless fruit . "
Mark Twain onceproclaimedthe Citrullus vulgaris , " the chief of this populace ’s luxuries , king by the blessing of God over all the fruits of the earth . When one has taste it , he knows what the angels eat . "
Mark Twain must never have run across what Walter Reeves describes as the " ooey - gooey , slimy , disgustful pool of crapola " leave behind by a catastrophic watermelon rind bankruptcy . Otherwise , Twain ’s declaration might have begun with , " What in tarnation ? " and ended with " saint emesis . "
Exploding Watermelon
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