Lollipop Problem

How many Licks?

Created By,

Moiz and Michelle

A.K.AA.K.A

Hansel and Gretel

•17 years old

•Plans to major in Computer Science, and transfer to U.C. Berkeley

•Hobbies include tennis & table-tennis !

•Works at Target

•Loves Math…just kidding!

Age : 18Ethnicity: Nicaraguan

Hobbies: Video games, reading, and sleepingMajor: Engineering

…Zzzz

You know she’s on

Myspace…

Lab Project Story:

Once upon a Once upon a time, time,

in a small town in a small town named named

Brentwood, Brentwood, a commercial a commercial

was made.was made.

This commercial advertised Tootsie Roll pops and

challenged young audiences to figure out the amount of licks it takes to get to the

center. A couple of Math 50 students named Hansel and

Gretel, however, took the challenge seriously. “How many licks DOES it take to

get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” they

questioned.

Knowing that it would take too long to count each and every single lick, they decided to estimate and use...

They came up with this plan: Step 1: Determine initial radius of Tootsie

Roll Pop by assuming it’s a perfect sphere.

Step 2: Place in mouth and suck for 30 seconds.

Step 3: Measure radius and record. Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 till center is

reached.

CALCULUS

Procedure:Procedure:How They Did it:How They Did it:

Used string (dental floss) to measure Used string (dental floss) to measure the circumference of Tootsie Roll Pop the circumference of Tootsie Roll Pop and to therefore find the radius and to therefore find the radius using the equation C = 2using the equation C = 2ππr.r.After finding the radius we use the After finding the radius we use the equation V = (4/3)equation V = (4/3)ππrr33

Difficulties:Difficulties:Tootsie Roll Pop became increasingly Tootsie Roll Pop became increasingly complicated to measure using the complicated to measure using the string because it slipped as a result string because it slipped as a result of the saliva. of the saliva. Sucking on the pop tired mouth Sucking on the pop tired mouth muscles, caused hunger and made it muscles, caused hunger and made it hard to resist the urge to bite.hard to resist the urge to bite.

Time (seconds) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210

Circumference

(millimeters)

88 87.5 87.0 86.0 83.5 81.0 80.0 79.0

Time (seconds) 240 270 300 330 360 390 420 450

Circumference

(millimeters)

76.0 75.0 72.5 71.0 68.0 66.5 64.0 63.0

The Table

Time (sec) 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210

Radius

(mm)

14.006

13.926

13.846

13.687

13.289

12.892

12.732

12.573

Volume

(mm3

)11,508.82

11,312.74

11,118.89

10,740.23

9,830.27

8,975.31

8,645.27

8,325.40

Time (sec)

240 270 300 330 360 390 420450

Radius

(mm)

12.096

11.937

11.539

11.300

10.823

10.584

10.186

10.027

Volume

(mm3

)7,413.

347,124.

826,435.

666,043.

995,310.

454,966.

364,426.

904,222.

81

The EndThe End