Grade 10
Science 10 Honors Bubble Gum Lab
Data:
Conclusion:
In conclusion, my hypotheses for the gum bubble diameter and stretch length were refuted. We observed that the more malleable of the two, Gum B (Big League Chew) was not able to stretch as long as Gum A (Hubba Bubba) but, was able to produce an average larger bubble (by 1cm). Gum B was also able to produce more consistent results, with a gamut of only 4cm, while Gum A ranges by 7cm, indicating that it is more resilient, but less malleable. This is comparable to a balloon and a bike tire tube, the balloon is much more stretchable, but cannot withstand much pressure, compared to a tire tube, that is able to withstand extreme pressure, but does not expand much from equal-to-atmosphere pressure. Some other factors we have considered are how the gum is chewed, as chewing the gum harder would introduce more saliva into the gum and mix it with the gum’s ingredients. Ingredients of the gum could affect the malleability as well, as a gum with more sugars and flavors that may break down from saliva would leave a more pure gum, that could cohere to keep attached longer and therefor stretch longer. Another factor in the gum chewing is body temperature, as gum is most malleable with high temperatures, this can be changed as a person who just chews the gum with their teeth may not heat it as much as someone who puts the gum under their tongue or around their gums, as the blood vessels in the tongue constantly bring warm blood to the tongue. Overall we think there are some questions that need to be rectified, as well as a more time-consistent data chart with more samples (5-10 rather than 3). In this Lab, we used the Standard International units gram and meter, gram for the mass of the gums, and meters (with the SI prefix centi) for diameter of the bubbles. SI units are internationally accepted and used in published research for consistency/unification and to reduce conversion error.