Gummy Bear Lab Walkthrough
(This will not be collected or graded)
Name:
Background Information:
Gummy Bears are made of gelatin and sugar. Gelatin is a poymer that forms large three-dimensional matrices which
give structural support to jellies and jams, and lots of other things that you use every day. Essentially, Gummy Bears
are mostly sugar, gelatin, and empty space.
Distilled water is water that has been boiled, then re-condensed. When it boils, everything other than pure water is
left behind. So when the pure water vapor condenses it should be pure water (no impurities in it).
Question that we are investigating: How is the volume of a gummy bear affected when it is submerged in
various liquids?
Is this a testable claim? Yes / No
To test a claim we need to have a measurable independent variable (the thing we are changing).
What will be our independent variable?
We need a measurable dependent variable (the thing that is affected by out changing independent variable).
What will be our dependent variable?
How can we measure the dependent variable?
We also need the make sure there are control variables (everything else that we make sure is stays the same
throughout the experiment).
What will be our control variables? How can we make sure that they are kept constant?
Control Variable
How to control it
Hypothesis:
What do you think will happen to the volume of the gummy bears in the following situations and why do
you think this will occur?
1. What will happen to the volume of a Gummy bear sitting in tap water for 24 hours?
2. What will happen to the volume of a Gummy bear sitting in distilled water for 24 hours?
3. Which gummy bear (from the tap water or from the distilled water) will have a larger volume after
24 hours?
Materials:
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2 plastic cups (8oz)
Permanent marker
Aluminum or plastic screen
2 Gummy Bears (different colors preferably)
Distilled water
Tap Water
Salt Water solution
Ruler
Procedure:
Create a procedure that would use the materials above and allow us to answer the investigation question.
Data:
GUMMY BEAR WITH TAP WATER
Height (cm)
Length (cm)
Width (cm)
Volume (cm3)
Width (cm)
Volume (cm3)
Before any water
After tap water
After Salt Water
GUMMY BEAR WITH DISTILLED WATER
Height (cm)
Length (cm)
Before any water
After distilled water
After salt water
Analysis: (We need to wait until after we have collected the data from all classes)
1. Calculate the percent change in volume for both bears after being submerged in tap and distilled water for two
days. Percent change = ((final volume – initial volume) / initial volume) x 100.
Ex: ((50-30) / 30 ) x 100 = (20/30) x 100 = 0.67 x 100 = 67%
Gummy Bears
Tap Water Bear
Distilled Water Bear
% Change in water
2. Calculate the percent change in volume for from coming out of their first water baths to after coming out of
their salt-water baths. Percent change = ((final volume – initial volume) / initial volume) x 100.
Gummy Bears
Tap Water Bear
Distilled Water Bear
% Change in salt water
3. Why did the volumes of the bears in tap after and in distilled water increase after 24 hours? Explain with
detail and examples.
4. Why was the volume of the bear in distilled water greater than the volume of the bar in tap water?
Explain with details and examples.
5. Why did the volumes of both bears decrease after they were placed n the salt-water baths? Explain with
details and examples.
6. What would happen to the volume of the bears if they were again placed in distilled water for two more
days after coming out of the salt-water solution? Why?
7. What may be some reasons why everyone’s gummy bears did not increase or decrease by the same
percentage if everyone did the same procedure? (What were some possible causes of errors?)
CER:
Claim: What claim are you making after conducting the experiment and analyzing the data?
(This is a one or two sentence statement stating your newly tested and researched belief about what happens
to the volume of a gummy bear that has been placed in tap water and in distilled water).
Evidence: Explain what specific evidence you have collected from your experiment that backs up the claim
you just made.
Reasoning: What scientific knowledge or explanations about what you know is happening also backs up
your claim? (You need to explain with details and examples. This is aside from the data collected in the
experiment itself).
Hint: Think about what we have been learning about in class this past week. You can refer the textbook, or
look up information online. But if you use the internet, make sure to check multiple sources and be sure to
cite your sources if you are using any. Wiki answers, google answers, etc are not going to be acceptable
sources of information.