Biologia

Dominique Simon
Mrs. Hoeger 10th Grade Chemistry
September 20th, 2012

BUBBLE GUM LAB

Background Information

According Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, food companies must putNutrition Facts labels on their products. This is required so that consumers know the quantities of the ingredients they are eating. The Nutrition Facts label of “Dubble Bubble Gum”, states thatthere are 5 g of sugar in every piece of bubble gum. This lab was conducted to compare the percentage of sugar listed on the label with the percentage of sugar measured in the lab. The experimentconsisted of chewing a piece of gum and assumed that the sugar in the gum was dissolved and consumed in saliva.

Source: Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. 1st edition. New York: North Point Press, 2006.Print.

Method

This experiment was carried out by the following:

1. Get 1 piece of gum.
| Mass of unchewed gumg(grams)∆g = ± 0.05grams | Mass of chewed gumg(grams)∆g = ± 0.05grams |Trial 1 | 6.04 g | 1.64 g |
Trial 2 | 5.855 g | 1.515 |
Trial 3 | 5.675 g | 1.5 g |
2. Using the scale, measure the mass of the piece of gum.
3. Chew the gum for 5-10 minutes.4. When you notice the flavor in the gum is gone, stop chewing.
5. Using the same scale, measure the mass of the gum after it has been chewed.
6. Find the difference of the unchewed gumand the chewed gum and follow the formula.

Data Collection

Apparatus: 3 pieces of gum, timer, digital scale.


Data Processing

According to the food label, each piece of “Dubble BubbleGum” is 6 g. This was incorporated into the equation below as the mass of unchewed gum. The equation was then used to calculate the percentage of sugar in each piece of bubble gum.

1. Mass ofunchewed gum – Mass of chewed gum = Mass of sugar
2. Mass of sugar x 100%
Mass of gum

Trial 1:
1. 6.04 g – 1.64 g = 4.40 g

2. 4.40 g x 100% = 72.85%
5.855 g

Trial 2:...