Science Fair Project: Which Chewing Gum Lasts the Longest?

Science fair projects don't have to be dull. This project tests which brand of gum has flavor that lasts the longest. My kids enjoyed doing this project together with their friends. The adults and teenagers viewing the science fair project loved it too because it actually gives you some practical information you can use. When you go to buy gum, how can you get one that lasts longer? The results are startling.

We chose the question, "Which gum brand lasts the longest?" and used six different gum brands. It probably would have been better to choose gum with the same flavor, but my daughter thought that was boring, so we chose different flavors.

You could also do the question, "Which Flavor of Gum Lasts the Longest?" That experiment would use several flavors of the same brand of gum, maybe the gum brand you like the best.

Another gum experiment would be: "Which bubble gum makes bigger bubbles?" In that experiment, you would have a variety of people blowing different types of gum and using a ruler to measure how big the bubbles are.

Or you could try: "Which gum has more flavor, sugarless or sugared gum?"

Step by step photo directions are to the left. You can also see a sample 4th grade project below.

1. Choose a question.
2. Gather the materials and arrange for the people to chew.
3. Decide on your own hypothesis--your guess of the answer.
4. Follow the procedures below to do the experiment or develop your own procedures.
5. Be sure to take pictures and to record your results carefully.
6. Ask your participants to give their thoughts and opinions along the way. What is important to them about gum? Which gum do they usually like? Do they chew gum after the flavor is out? How often do they chew?
7. Look at your results and think about your question. Write down your results and conclusions.
8. Type up your results on the computer, or hand write them neatly.Attach them to a science board. You might want to put colored or patterened paper underneath them as a mat.
9. Before or after you do this project, check out the videos to learn about the history of gum and how it is made.

See below for a sample project.

How I thought of this project:

All the kids in our family like to chew gun. Sometimes our parents give us some but other times we have to buy it ourselves. We all like different flavors but one of the things that makes gun good is if the flavor lasts a long time. So I thought about doing an experiment to test that.

• Question: Which brand of gum lasts the longest?
• Hypothesis: I think that 5 gum will last the longest. Trident will be next. I think Stride will be 3^rd, Juicy Fruit will be 4^th, 5th will be Double Bubble, and then 6^th will be Extra.
• The Materials:

1. I had 6 types of gum.
2. I had a piece of paper and a pencil to mark down how long the gum lasted.
3. I had a timer so I could keep track.
4. I gathered my sisters, brother and friends to chew!

• The Process:

1. First I asked some people to try out my experiment.
2. We all sat together and I passed out the first piece of gum. We all unwrapped the first gum, Double Bubble.
3. We said, “ready, set, go” and popped it in our mouths and started the timer.
4. We all chewed the gum and each person told me when their flavor ran out and I marked it down on my chart.
5. When everyone’s flavor ran out, we stopped the timer and got out another type of gum to do the experiment again.
6. We did this for all the gum.
7. Some people didn’t get a chance to try all the gums but I marked the ones they did try.

The Results:

We recorded the results on a chart which showed the person who chewed and how long the flavor lasted.

• What we noticed about the gums and the flavor:

1. My sister Sophie said she noticed that most of the flavors lasted with a strong flavor for one minute and then the flavor faded to just a little bit for the rest of the time.
2. Five has the most flavor. It is good and lasts a long time. The Stride gum lasts a long time but the flavor is not as good as 5 gum.
3. Juicy Fruit gum is harder to chew. The gum is stiffer. It seems to have last longer because it was harder to chew.
4. Extra was pretty soft and was sweeter than the other gums.
5. All of the gums we chose were sugarless except for the Double Bubble.
6. Double Bubble is the best for blowing bubbles. You can blow bubbles with the others but not as well. 5 gum blows pretty good bubbles.
7. In 5 gum, I noticed that when I blew a bubble and put it back in my mouth the gum tasted sweeter.
8. Sophie noticed that when she wasn’t thinking about the flavor the whole time, the flavor seemed to last longer.

• Our Favorites:
• Sophie likes 5 because it lasts a long time and Extra because it is sweeter.
• Steffi likes Double Bubble because she likes to blow bubbles and Juicy Fruit because of the taste.
• Mollie likes 5 and the Trident because of their flavors and because they last a long time.
• Brendan likes Juicy Fruit best but says it runs out quickly.
• Maggie likes Extra because she likes the dessert flavors they have, but she also buys 5 a lot because she likes to chew gum that lasts a long time.

Conclusion

• The gum brands that lasted the longest were 5, Stride and Extra. I was right that 5 gum would be the longest lasting flavor and that Stride would be next. I was surprised that Extra lasted so long because I thought it would be the shortest time because it is sweeter than most of the gums and has more unusual flavors.
• I noticed that is a big difference in how long gum lasts.
• Smaller people, like my sister Steffi, seem to have gum last longer than bigger people. Maybe people with big mouths chew harder and faster.
• When thinking about buying gum, people might want to try 5, Stride or Extra if they like long lasting taste.