But what are they saying?

I got a question from my sister Angie that I would like to try and answer (sorry Mike, I will get to yours, but she asked hers first through email). Angie wrote, "I got a question for ya. However, if it sucks, blame dad. We came up with it during breakfast. "What makes Rice Krispies cereal 'snap, crack, and pop'? And what is the difference between a snap, crack, and pop...how do you tell the difference?" Love, Angie"

Well Angie, let me first start by giving some definitions of the subjects in question.

Pop - a short, quick, explosive sound.
Crackle - slight, sudden, sharp noises, rapidly repeated.
Snap - A sudden sharp cracking sound or the action producing such a sound.
Crack - a sudden, sharp noise, as of something breaking. (I think you meant crackle, but I added this one just in case.)

I will answer your second question first as this will help answer your first question. Now bear with me. The difference between snap, crack[le] and pop are easy if you break down the word into smaller pieces. For instance, "POP" starts with a "P". to make this sound you close your lips together, build up some air pressure behind your lips, then let the air escape suddenly causing the "puh" sound. The "O" in "POP" will give you the "aahh" sound by vibrating your vocal cords with your mouth wide open. And for the final "P" in "POP" see above because it is the same.

Now "SNAP" also has a "P" in it so I will not spend any more time on that letter. The "S" and "N" together form a "consonant cluster" (not to be confused with a consonant digraph). They each keep their original sound. To form the sound of the "S" you need to put your tongue to the top of your mouth and force air past it. The "N" is a bit trickier. You need to start vibrating your vocal cords while holding an almost smile creating an "ehhh" sound then sharply cut off the noise by thrusting your tongue to the top of your mouth. The "A" is a "short a", which means that it sounds like the "A" in "CAT". You manage this sound by placing the tip of your tongue to the back of your bottom teeth, and opening your mouth wide, while you are vibrating your vocal cords. This type of "A" sound will also be heard in the word "CRACK".

"CRACK" has two consonant clusters, but one is a consonant digraph, which means, two consonants producing one sound. The "C" and the "R" each keep their own sound. the "C" is a "hard C" which gives it the sound of a "K". To make this sound you close off the back of your throat, and like the "P", you build up air pressure, and quickly release it. To make the "R" you need to curl, or roll, your tongue to the back of your throat while vibrating your vocal cords. Hispanics do this very well. "CK" is the consonant digraph. This sound is created the same way that the first "C" is. If you want to add the "LE" to "CRACK", you will need to figure that out for yourself. Sorry, I just do not have the time to answer that portion because I would need to get into all sorts of alien conjugated verb forms to explain. Moving on.

I guess the short answer would have been that they sound different when you say them.

Now to answer your first question, "why do Rice Krispies snap, crack, and pop?" I know you have seen the commercial for this particular cereal where they try to suggest that the cereal is actually talking to you. They even go as far as showing children discussing, and trying to guess what their cereal is saying as if the cereal has its own language and is trying to converse with them. If the cereal really could talk, it would be obvious that it would be screaming things like, "DON'T EAT US!", "I'm too young to die.", or "Man, you have very bad breath!" I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but cereal can't talk, and Santa Claus does not exist. This particular cereal snaps and pops and all that other jazz because of tiny air bubbles that were captured in each piece of cereal. As the milk makes the walls of the bubble softer, the air tries to escape and eventually pops the bubbles. So in reality, you are only really hearing a POP. I hope this helps your cause. Good night.