7th Grade Science
NAME ________________________________
GUMMY BEAR LAB
Period _________
Today we’re going to use gummy bears in a science experiment that will help us learn how water
behaves.
Materials:
 Water
 2 Gummy Bears
 A ruler
Small Bowl or Beaker
Paper towel
Process:
1. Choose a gummy bear and place the gummy into your container, and then fill the container
partway up with water. Measure how deep the water is with your ruler, being very precise,
and write it down ____________.
2. Observe: What does your bear look like? __________________________(same or different)
Were there any immediate changes to the bear or the water? _________________________
3. Make a prediction: What do you think will happen if you let your gummy bear sit in the
water for a couple of days? ____________________________________________________
Why do you think that? _______________________________________________________
4. Let your bear sit in the water for a couple of days.
5. On day 2 pull your bear out and set it on a paper towel. Grab a second gummy bear and
compare. What is different about your water bear when you compare it to a bear that has
stayed dry? __________________________________________________________________
6. Measure the water remaining in the container. Write the amount here_________________
Is it different from the amount that you started with? ______________
7. Answer these questions:
Did the bear change the color, or smell, of the water? _______________________________
Does it float? ____________ Did it before? _________________
Can you see through the gummy bear? _____________________
How does it feel? ____________________________________ Does it bounce? ___________
Summary: What happened?
The bear ______________________ because the water in the cup _____________ _____________
the bear. Nature likes balance, and things naturally move around the universe to achieve that
balance. You’ve noticed this if you’ve ever left a window open when it’s outside and warm in your
house. There’s more heat inside than outside, and so the heat moves out through the window until
your house is as cold as the outside. Then things are in balance. We call this diffusion.
What happened to your bear is a very special case of diffusion called osmosis. Osmosis is when
water moves to achieve ______________________, and it moves through something called a semipermeable membrane, basically a ________________that allows some things through but not
others. Water slowly moved through the gelatin to swell up the gummy bear to achieve
_______________________ between both parts of the water.
7th Grade Science
NAME ________________________________
GUMMY BEAR LAB
Period _________
SUMMARY:
What happened to the water?
Some of it evaporated since it was left out in the open air, some of it went into your bear, and it
blew your bear up like a tiny little sugary water balloon.
That sugar is key to what’s happening, actually. See, when gummy bears are made, they’re originally
liquid: sugar, flavor, color, and gelatin dissolved into water.
When water has things dissolved into it, we call that a solution. This warm gummy bear solution is
poured into gummy bear molds and left to cool and dry out, but not quite all the way dry. As the
gelatin cools it starts to set up, and it forms almost little containers that hold onto water inside of
them. Think of gelatin as teeny tiny bubble wrap with water inside the bubbles. That water is still a
solution of sugar and flavor and color dissolved together, and there’s just enough of it in the
gummy bear to make it gummy and delicious.
If you’ve ever had a gummy bear that’s been left out in the open air for a while, you know what it’s
like when that water eventually escapes the gelatin. Hard and a little bit gross. And maybe dusty,
depending on how long it’s been left out.
Bear--You put it in the water and water flowed inside and swelled it up. Now, think about that warm
liquid gummy bear solution. It was sugar and color and flavor and gelatin and…water. Lots of water.
As the solution became bears, everything stayed but most of the water…And that means that the
water solution that’s inside a gummy bear has way more of all that stuff mixed in with it than when
there was lots more water. We call that a strong solution. In this case, a very strong solution.
Well, nature likes balance, and things naturally move around the universe to achieve that balance.
You’ve noticed this if you’ve ever left a window open when it’s cold outside and warm in your
house. There’s more heat inside than outside, and so heat moves out through the window until your
house is as cold as the outside. Then things are in balance. We call this diffusion, and you can see it
in action by just dripping a single drop of food coloring into a clear cup of water and letting it do its
thing. Eventually, it will be spread out perfectly evenly. Diffusion in action.
What happened to your bear is a very special case of diffusion called osmosis. See, diffusion is when
anything moves to achieve balance, or equilibrium. Osmosis is when water moves to achieve
balance, and it moves through something called as semi-permeable membrane, basically a wall
that allows some things through but not others.
Your bear is made of a semi-permeable membrane: gelatin. It allows water in but is much worse
about letting sugar, color, and flavor out. Now, since the water inside is a very strong solution, and
the water on the outside isn’t a solution at all, the system is out of balance, and water will slowly
move through the gelatin into those gelatin “bubbles” and swell up the gummy bear in its quest
to achieve balance between both parts of the system.