Tootsie Roll Pops Re-visited

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I recently re-visited an age-old question with my kids–How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Even though the 1970s commercial evidently still runs today, we watch so little commercial television, the kids had never seen it. Because I’m a nerd and a homeschooling mama, we answered it using the scientific method. At the beginning, only the 3 littles were around, and the hypotheses were so indicative of their personalities.

Ty: Mmm…102. No, 102.

Mia: (refused to answer because she was still brooding over a breakfast incident)

PJ: Wait, before I answer, can I ask some questions? (He went on to ask if the approach (i.e., top or side) mattered.)

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Before we dug in, I had Ty sort our bag by color* and asked him quantitative questions that included the concepts of most and least. Nerd status…going up.

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*Did you know they now come in pomegranate, banana, and green apple?

‘Lest you think I took all the fun out of it, I argue the treat was all the more sweet once we finally got around to the licking part. Once we explained what a Tootsie Pop* was to John and Kayla, they were all in.

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*A lollipop with an embedded chocolaty prize at its center.
P.S. Did you know they are only 60 calories and fat free?

P.P.S. Tootsie Roll Pops are produced in a facility that does not use peanuts, tree nuts, eggs or gluten.

As the kids licked and tallied (another aspect of math lesson snuck in) away, I remembered being so much like PJ. I remember watching the commercial and having more analytical questions than desires to actually lick a pop. For some reason, I don’t do fruit flavors mixed with anything non-fruity. I like my fruit unadulterated so the chocolate on chocolate pop was the only one that remotely appealed to me.

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Ty’s experiment was short-lived 2 licks and a bite. He then had to surrender his pop since he can’t have chocolate. Mia got to post 50 licks and then asked for permission to just suck it claiming licking was too much work. Oy vay. PJ counted 570 exactly. From the side, not the top. That’s my boy.

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I have to ask…has anyone else actually gotten to the center by only licking?

Apparently, a group of engineering students from Purdue University reported that its licking machine, took an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. Not to be outdone by a Big Ten rival, a chemical engineering doctorate student from the University of Michigan recorded that his customized licking machine required 411 licks to reach the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

Wanna play along? Enter the “How Many Licks?” video contest.

CONTEST PERIOD: The Contest begins October 1, 2012 at 2:00 a.m. PT and ends on October 25, 2012 at 11:30 p.m. PT .

 HOW TO ENTER: Access the Tootsie Roll or Tootsie Pop Facebook page, “Like” the Fan Page, click the “How Many Licks” Contest tab, and click “Submit Entry.” Then, follow the instructions to enter by uploading your “How Many Licks” video.

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2 Comments

  1. i have to say, me and my friend once tried it, and we got approximately 1,580 licks to get to the center ( from both sides), granted that we were both around age 6…

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