Which Bubblegum Brand Produces the Biggest Bubbles?

Research Questions:

Bubblegum is a type of chewing gum that is designed to be more elastic so that bubbles can form. Gum is traditionally made of rubber or natural latex, called chicle. You're supposed to blow bubbles with it--but do some brands produce bigger bubbles than others?

Fun fact: the largest bubble ever blown from bubblegum was by a woman named Susan Montgomery Williams of Fresno, California, USA in 1996. The bubble she has blown measures at a whopping 23 inches in diameter.

Materials:

• Various brands of bubblegum such as:
  • Dubble Bubble
  • Bubbleyum
  • Bubblelicious
  • Bubble Tape
• Test subjects
• Caliper
• Pen and paper for notes

Experimental Procedure:

1. Hand over a piece of each of your chosen brands of gum to your test subjects. Have them chew each piece of gum for at least one hour before spitting it out and going to the next brand.
2. While they are blowing bubbles to their best ability, measure the diameters using a caliper. Write these numbers down.
3. After you are done experimenting, find the average diameters of the bubbles of each brand of gum.
4. Which bubblegum has the largest bubbles? Is these a reason behind this? Is it in the ingredients?
5. Evaluate your results?

Terms/Concepts: bubblegum; air; chicle

References:

http://www.bubblegumbubble.com/

Bubblegum Science by Inc. Klutz