3rd Period
Ms. Bortz
Bubble Gum Challenge
Purpose: To determine how the rate of decomposition affects the mass of the bubble gum.
Hypothesis: If there is sugar in the gum, then the rate of decomposition will increase, because
sugar breaks down quickly from saliva in the mouth.
Materials:
 3 pieces of Super Bubble gum
 3 pieces of Double Bubble gum
 6 pieces of Extra gum


Triple beam balance
Timer
Procedure:
Control Group: Extra sugar free gum.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Measure the mass of the gum on the triple beam balance with wrapper on.
Unwrap gum and save the wrapper for use later.
Have designated “chewer” person chew gum for three minutes; check time with timer.
Measure the mass of the gum on balance again with wrapper on. NOTE: Be sure there is
no excess saliva remaining on the gum before measuring.
5. Record all measurements in data chart.
6. Repeat for each piece and brand of gum – 3 trials for the control and 3 trials for each
experimental group to get an average.
7. Plot your data on a graph.
Data:
Table 1:
Trial
1
2
3
Table 2:
Trial
1
2
3
Table 3:
Trial
1
2
3
Double Bubble Brand Gum
Mass before
chewing (g)
5.1
5.0
5.0
Mass after
chewing (g)
2.4
1.9
2.2
Difference in
Mass (g)
2.7
3.1
2.8
Avg: 2.87
Mass after
chewing (g)
2.3
2.8
2.1
Difference in
Mass (g)
2.9
2.4
3.1
Avg: 2.80
Mass after
chewing (g)
3.7
3.9
3.5
Difference in
Mass (g)
2.3
2.1
2.5
Avg: 2.3
Super Bubble Brand Gum
Mass before
chewing (g)
5.2
5.2
5.2
Extra Brand Gum
Mass before
chewing (g)
6.0
6.0
6.0
3rd Period
Ms. Bortz
Average Rate of Decomposition after Three Minute Trials
3.5
3
Mass Lost (g)
2.5
2
Double Bubble
Super Bubble
1.5
Extra
1
0.5
0
Brand of Bubble Gum
Qualitative Data:
After chewing all three brands of gum, it is clear that Double Bubble brand gum lost the
greatest amount of mass (2.87g) in a three minute time frame. Super Bubble brand gum lost the
second greatest amount of mass coming in 0.7g below Double Bubble. Extra brand gum’s rate
of decomposition was the least with only 2.3g lost.
Analysis/Conclusion:
Our hypothesis was supported because the brand claiming to be sugar free had the lowest
rate of decomposition. Double Bubble brand gum had the highest starting amount of sugar and
therefore lost the greatest amount of mass. Super Bubble lost a relatively similar amount of mass
compared to the Double Bubble brand. Both brands on average lost over half of their mass after
three minutes. Extra brand gum lost only one third of its mass after a three minute trial proving
that it in fact had less sugar for saliva to decompose.
During the lab it was possible that some errors occurred. Since we weren’t watching the
time very closely we both had to be “chewers” for the last four trials. It would have been better
if we had kept one chewer for the entire experiment. If we were to do this lab again we would
begin a new trial immediately after the previous trial finished. Also, during the experiment the
triple beam balance we started using was broken so we had to measure our later trials on a
different scale. This could have affected the results. If we were to repeat this experiment we
could not allow other groups to use our triple beam balance.