Madison Westerling

Period 4
September 26, 2014
Gummy Bear Lab Report
Our guiding question for this lab was, What is the relationship between the density and
polymer structure?Our beginning question was, What do you think will happen to a gummy
bear when you put it in water overnight? My hypothesis was that if you put a gummy bear into
water overnight, then it will grow and expand, because since it is gelatin it will take in all of the
liquid around it.
Things that you need to take precautions about in this lab are to make sure not to
horseplay in the lab. Another thing to take precautions for is to make sure you dont eat any of
the worms, or bears after they have been on the scales, because there is lead in it and it becomes
contaminated after coming in contact with it. Also try not to make a big mess with your water
and worms, especially at the end when the bears have expanded, they are more fragile.
Materials for this experiment included:
A ruler
Cup with gummy bears and worm
A paper towel
A pencil
A data sheet
One gummy worm
One gummy bear
A scale
And possibly a calculator
The steps for this experiment were fairly simple, on Day 1, first you went and got
your bears and worm, then you choose the bear and worm you are going to use,
Then you write down the colors of each on your data sheet. Next you put your
gummy bear and worm on a napkin and get your ruler, measure both using the
centimeter side of the ruler, then write that on your data sheet also. Then get your
ruler and measure both the width and the thickness and write them on your data
sheet too. Next multiply your length, and width, and height to get your volume.
Then take both and put them on the scale and get their separate masses. After that
you divide their mass and volume to get their separate densities. After you do, you
take the cup that your bears and worm came in and fill it with approximately 50
mL of water and then place both your worm and bear in it and wait until the next
day.
Day 2: Today you get your cup that has the water, gummy bear, and gummy
worm. Get another napkin and then take your gummy bear and gummy worm out
of the water separately, letting them drip a little bit into the cup before moving
Madison Westerling
Period 4
September 26, 2014
them so they arent completely soaked. Then you follow the data procedures from
Day 1 with the ruler and scale, today being slightly more careful because the
gummies are more fragile and easily breakable.

Day 1: Bear Color:
Red

Length:
2 cm
Width:
1 cm.
Thickness:
1 cm.
Volume:
2 cm cu.
Mass:
2.566
Density:
2.21
Day 2: Pink 3 cm. 1 cm. 1 1/3 cm.

5.985

9.178

1.533

Change: +1 cm. +1 1/2 + 1/3 + 3.98 +7 -.677


Day 1: Worm Color:
Yellow&orange
Length:
10 cm.
Width:
1 cm.
Thickness:
1 cm.
Volume:
10 cm. cu.
Mass:
9.355
Density:
1.068
Day 2:

Yellow 15 cm. 2 cm. 1 cm. 33.4 cm. cu. 39.160 1.1724

Change: +5cm. +1 cm. +1/2 cm. +23.4 +30 +1.044


If I leave a gummy bear, or worm, in water over night, then it will cause their masses to
increase greatly.
I know that this is true because of the tests I did. Since I went and measured and weighed
everything on day 1, I can tell which things had greater changes than others. Mass had a very
large change, especially for the gummy worm, Im guessing that the change in the worms mass
was greater than the bears because of the fact that the worm is much larger than the bear when
first made so therefore it can store more water inside of it without too much of a strain.
The structure of gelatin at a molecular level changes when you add water to it. It changes
because everything becomes more stretched out for the whole shape of the gelatin. Since there
are so many different things used to make gelatin, certain things in it are made to expand when
Madison Westerling
Period 4
September 26, 2014
they interact with water. So since it is the water that is causing the gelatin to expand, it gets
heavier because a lot of the water is being stored inside of the worm, or bear.