Today our task was to find out what brand of gum produces the biggest bubbles.There were two parts to this lab – blowing the bubbles and stretching the gum itself. The two brands were Hubba Bubba and Big League Chew. From our first observations, we noticed that the two gums were physically different from one another: Hubba Bubba (Gum A) was a solid, square piece and the Big League Chew (Gum B) was in thin, short strings. After observing the two chewing gums, we came to a hypothesis that was If the Hubba Bubba gum is chewed, then it will stretch farther than Big League Chew because the cube-shaped solid consistency is much stronger than the small strings. 

We soon tested our hypothesis by chewing each gum for 3 minutes and then blowing a few bubbles each. We found it to be incorrect since the average diameter length for Gum A was only 8.3 cm compared to 10 cm from Gum B.

After the first experiment from Part 1, we then observed some key points:

1. The consistency of gum B was much softer and this helped it mold together easier and much quicker, which lead it to be easier to produce large bubbles with it.
2. Gum B started already in a solid form which meant the person chewing it had to chew at a much faster rate so that it could be as mixed together as possible.

For part 2 we had to hold the gum by either side and then walk as far apart from each other as possible to see the distance the gum could be stretched. We knew that the stretch ability of the gum has much to do with the bubble size because in order to produce bigger bubbles, the gum must be able to stretch farther.

When we took gum A, it only reached 49 cm whereas gum B stretched only 39 cm.

After the two experiments, we noticed that the results were opposite each other. However, there were some key factors that could have affected the results of our tests:

1. The ability we had to blow our bubbles – if we couldn’t blow very well, it didn’t properly represent the stretch ability of the gum
2. How the gum was chewed – was it being chewed fast or slow? This could affect the final consistency of the gum
3. The strength of the jaw – if your jaw isn’t very strong, it makes it very difficult to keep up the pace and constantly chewing.
4. Whether or not the person was talking – it isn’t very easy to chew gum while talking!
5. How recently the gum was chewed before being stretched – if it had sat out for a while, the gum will harden and this will make it harder to stretch

Final Conclusion

After observing what happened with both parts of the experiment and getting opposite results both times, my hypothesis should be refuted because the 5 factors that I listed definitely played a role in the success of the experiment. Overall, I think that the stretch ability of the gum has a major affect on the results because it isn’t easy to blow bubbles with stiff gum because the amount of air being taken into the bubble is significantly smaller than with a soft piece of gum. I also think that the time that gum A had been sitting out really affected our results as well. When we tried to pull it apart, it stiffened quickly and was tougher to stretch out. Despite the fact that gum A was able to be pulled farther apart (not by much), it does prove our hypothesis to have some truth in that the solid consistency was stronger than a thin consistency. Although the results were not super accurate, this experiment proved that Gum B was the better gum for blowing bubbles because of the way the gum is before chewing (thin and stringy), how easily it molded together, and the smooth and elastic-like consistency. I do think that if the experiment was to be completely accurate, we would need to revise our hypothesis, do some more precise observations, and retest the experiment.