Sticky, Stretchy, Bubble Gum Science

By Kaden Henley

9,000 BC• CHEWING OF BURCH BARK TAR• Prehistoric man begins the purposeful use of

various substances to help with pain, sickness, and other unknown possibilities.

• Pieces of chewed birch bark tar with human teeth marks go back as far as 11,000 years

Piece of Neolithic Gum found on Otzi, the iceman, who died over 5000 years ago.

50 AD

• CHEWING OF “MASTICHE”

• The Greek civilization is known to have chewed mastiche, which is sap from a mastic tree.

100 AD

• CHEWING OF “CHICLE”

• Ancient Mayan civilizations are known to have chewed chicle, which is sap

from the sapodilla tree.

1500 AD• NEW WORLD SETTLERS CHEW GUM

• North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees for many years before the settlers came. The indians passed the habit along to the settlers.

1848 AD• 1ST COMMERCIAL CHEWING GUM SOLD• John B. Curtis made and sold the first

commercial chewing gum called “The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum”

1850 AD

• GUM BASE CHANGES TO PARAFFIN• John B. Curtis started selling flavored paraffin

gums. Paraffin gums started to become more popular than spruce gums.

1869 AD

• ADAMS NEW YORK #1 GUM

• Mexican General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, conqueror of the Alamo, hired Thomas Adams to develop a new rubber. Adams was unsuccessful, but in his error created the 1st modern chewing gum instead.

1869 AD

• 1ST CHEWING GUM PATENT # 93,304• On December 28, 1869, William Semple put

the first patent on a chewing gum.

1888 AD• TUTTI-FRUTTI SOLD IN

VENDING MACHINES• Thomas Adam’s chew

1899 AD

• DENTYNE GUM CREATED• New York druggist, Franklin Canning, invented

Dentyne gum.

1900 AD• CHEWING GUM ADDING SHAPES & FLAVORS• Chewing gum became manufactured in many

different shapes and sizes.• Shapes—long round or flat sticks, ball shapes,

blocks• Flavors—peppermint, fruit, spearmint

1906 AD

• 1ST BUBBLE GUM INVENTED• Frank Fleer invented Blibber Blubber;

however, it was never sold.

1928 AD

• DOUBLE BUBBLE INVENTED• Walter Diemer invented a popular pink gum

called Double Bubble, bubble gum

1977

• BUBBLICIOUS INVENTED• Bubblicious was launched in the US as the first

soft bubble gum

1979

• HUBBA BUBBA INVENTED• Hubba Bubba was the first of many bubble

gums to come invented by the Wrigley Company.

• A football player from the University of Maryland blowing a bubble through his face mask

Background

• Throughout time, many different types of people all over the world have chewed gum. It can be made with different ingredients, which give it different physical properties.

•“I learned that Indians, pilgrims, and the cavemen chewed gum.”—Kaden Henley

Research• We researched the history of bubble gum and

common ingredients.– Bubble gum needs to be “stretchy” or elastic. Bubble

gum makers usually put in a type of resin or wax to accomplish this.

– Bubble gum needs to resist flow (have a high viscosity). Bubble gum makers usually put in a viscous liquid such as corn syrup into the recipe for gum to accomplish this.

“I learned about all different kinds of gums and when they got made. To make good bubble gum it has to be stretchy and not be spilled.”—Kaden Henley

Hypothesis

• If softness helps a piece of bubble gum to be stretchy, then Bubblicious bubble gum should be stretchier than Hubba Bubba or Double Bubble Bubble Gums.

• “I think this one will be stretchiest because its soft when we started. –Kaden Henley”

T-chart to organize experiment and isolate variables.

CONTROL TEST GROUP

Bubblicious gum Other types of gumChew 2 min Chew 2 minMeasuring tape Measuring tapeMeasure in inches Measure in inchesMeasure immediately Measure immediately Measure in 1 motion Measure in 1 motionSame person chewing Same person chewing

Materials

• Tape measure (over 100 inches!)• Tape• Bubblicious bubble gum• Hubba Bubble bubble gum• Double Bubble bubble gum• Timer

Procedure• 1. Set up measuring tape in same location.• 2. Tape measuring tape to floor.• 3. Chew 1 piece of gum for 5 minutes.• 4. Starting at 0 of measuring tape, attempt to stretch

it as far as possible until it breaks. (Stretching has to be done in one motion…no starting and stopping).

• 5. Record data & average 3 trials.• 6. Repeat same type of gum 2 more times.• 7. Follow steps 3-5 for all gum pieces.• 8. Put measurements into a bar graph to analyze data

and form conclusion.

Experimental DataType of Gum Trial 1

(in inches)Trial 2 (in inches)

Trial 3(in inches)

Average of Trials 1-3

Bubblicious 38.7 86.1 55.5 60.1 inches

Hubba Bubba 63.0 104.2 57.5 68.2 inches

Double Bubble 60.0 52.5 10.2 40.9 inches

Experimental Data

Bubblicious Hubba Bubba Double Bubble0

20

40

60

80

100

120

60.1

68.2

40.9

Trial 1 (in)Trial 2 (in)Trial 3 (in)Averages (in)

Dist

ance

Str

etch

ed in

inch

es

Brands of Bubble Gum

Conclusion

• I was not right. Hubba Bubba stretched the farthest. The one that I voted on (Bubblicious) was second and the other one did not stretch that good at all, but they are all delicious.—Kaden Henley

Experimental Pictures