Chewing on Chemistry & Bubble Gum Lab!
Problem: What do you think is going to happen to the appearance, volume, mass, and
density of a sample of bubble gum, if it is chewed for 10 minutes?
Background: Read the following to learn about the history of gum. After reading,
summarize the information in a short paragraph.
Archaeologists have found 2,000 year old chewing gum in Sweden. The ancient Greeks
and Mayans chewed various kinds of tree gums. So did the Pilgrims. They picked up the
habit from the Native American Indians.
The chewing gum we love today can trace its roots (sort of) back to the Battle of the
Alamo in 1836! The leader of the Mexican army that overran the Alamo, while the likes
of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie died defending the fort, was General Santa Anna.
Everyone knows that part of the story. What is not generally known is that a few years
after the war, Santa Anna had left the military and gone into the tree sap business. He
was in New York trying to interest American businessmen in buying sapodilla tree sap
(an American tropical evergreen tree) from him and then finding a way to refine it into a
cheap substitute for rubber! One of the men Santa Anna approached was a New Jersey
inventor called Thomas Adams. Adams experimented with the sap, also known as chicle
(as in Chiclets!), for some time before giving up in frustration and throwing the stuff out.
That might have been the end of the story, however, Adams had a young son who,
according to the legend, got in the trash and starting gnawing on the stuff. When Adams
discovered his son happily chomping away, he got a great idea! Instead of chewing
whale blubber (yummy!) or wax, Adams envisioned a nation chewing Santa Anna’s
chicle. Within a year, “Adams New York Snapping and Stretching Gum” was on the
market and selling like crazy – especially after it was flavored with sarsaparilla (what
folks drank before there was Diet Pepsi).
In 1928, Walter Diemer, a Philadelphia accountant, invented bubble gum. Today, the
chicle has been replaced by sweetened, flavored, food-grade plastic. That is why, if you
swallow your gum, it eventually passes out unchanged out of the body. If you are caught
chewing gum in Singapore, you will be fined. If you are caught chewing gum
obnoxiously in Fresno, you will be jailed. You will add to the colorful history today as
you experiment with bubble gum in the laboratory.
Summary:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Hypothesis:
What do you think is going to happen to the appearance, volume, mass, and density of
gum after you chew it? BE CAREFUL – EACH PERSON IN YOUR GROUP HAS A
DIFFERENT PIECE OF GUM!
Here is a sample hypothesis: The appearance of the gum will change from a nicely
shaped piece of gum to a teeth-marked piece of gum. The mass will increase due to my
saliva on the gum. This increase in mass will increase the density of the gum. There will
be no change in volume. Make sure you phrase it as a testable statement. Think carefully
about this – you will be graded on the quality of your hypothesis!
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Materials: Make a list of the materials you are using in this lab.
____________________________
___________________________
____________________________
___________________________
____________________________
___________________________
____________________________
___________________________
Procedure:
1. BEFORE CHEWING GUM: Measure all of the characteristics as follows, and record
them in your data table 1 below.
a. Appearance - write as detailed of a description as possible (texture, color, shape, etc.).
b. Mass- use balance.
c. Volume- Write down the length, width, and height of your bubble gum below.
Calculate the volume of your gum in cm3 using the formula – use cm for your length,
width , and height:
Volume = length x width x height
d. Density- calculate the density in g using the formula: Density = mass
cm3
volume
2. Chew gum for 10 minutes. (No bubble blowing).
3. AFTER CHEWING GUM: Measure all characteristics as you did before chewing
gum, and record in data table 1 below.
a. Appearance- same as above.
b. Mass- same as above.
c. Volume- measure volume using your wrapper and a scale, since the gum is now
shaped weird! Record the initial and final weights of the wrapper below, and then
subtract the two to get the volume of the gum.
d. Density- same as above.
Data: MAKE SURE YOUR DATA HAS UNITS!
Type of Gum:
_________________________________________
DATA TABLE 1
Characteristic
Before Chewing
After Chewing
Appearance
Mass
Volume = _______x
________ x ________
Wrapper weight:
Final weight :
Volume of gum :
Density = m _
Volume
Data Table 2
Individual in Group
Type of Gum
% Mass Change
Calculations: Calculate the % change in mass BELOW as a result of chewing the gum.
% Mass change = (mass after - mass before) x 100%.
mass before
Graphs:
Make TWO BAR GRAPHS – one for mass and one for volume comparing the data from
before and after chewing, using graph paper. Be sure to label your axes properly, title
your graph, and use the correct units.
ATTACH YOUR GRAPHS TO THIS LAB. YOUR GRAPHS WILL BE DIFFERENT
FROM THE REST OF YOUR GROUP!
FOR EXAMPLE:
 Mass is x-axis
 Time is y-axis
 Use color coded key to represent brand and flavor.