Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About
BUBBLEGUM!
Why is bubblegum pink? Does it really stay in your stomach for seven years if you swallow it? Should teachers let you chew gum in school? You might be surprised at the answers we’ve found!
Why is most bubblegum pink?
a) It contains a secret ingredient.
b) It was the only food coloring available when it was invented.
c) It makes the gum softer so you can blow bubbles.
Visit http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/bubblegum.htm , and you’ll learn that (in 1928) the only food coloring in the factory on the day that Walter E. Diemer invented (the first successful) bubblegum was pink. Mr. Diemer worked as an accountant for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company in Philadelphia and played around with new gum receipies in his spare time. As he put it, “It was an accident. I was doing something else and ended up with something with bubbles.” The rest is history!
How many pieces of bubblegum are chewed by kids in the US each day?
a) 290 thousand peices
b) 40 million pieces
c) 3 million pieces
At http://www.promotega.org/HGR06017/fun.htm you’ll learn that the National Chewing Gum Association reports that North American kids spend about a half-billion dollars on bubble gum every year, which translates to 40 million pieces every day, 1.6 million every hour, 26,000 every minute or 444 pieces per second. This site is was developed as a school project and is fun to explore and learn more about bubblegum.
True or False: Bubblegum includes synthetic plastics and rubbers.
Watch this video (below) on how bubblegum is made at, and you’ll learn that the gum base originally came from tree resin, but today comes from synthetic plastics and rubbers.
True or False: Chewing gum can improve memory.
According to the International Chewing Gum Association (see http://www.gumassociation.org/default.aspx?Cat=4), psycologists in the United Kingdom found that when people chewed gum it helped them concentrate better when taking tests. This page includes many other interesting facts as well.
What is the record for the largest bubble blown?
a) 15 inches
b) 19 inches
c) 23 inches
At http://www.chewsysuzy.com/home.htm you’ll discover that Susan Montgomery Williams loves bubblegum so much that she invented a new way to blow large bubbles, landing her a world record of 23 inches in diameter! Watch her break the world record here in the YouTube video below.
True or False: If you swallow bubblegum, it will stay in your stomach for seven years.
At http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/09/21/what-really-happens-if-you-swallow-your-gum.htm, you find out that if swallowed, gum is eliminated as human waste in the same way – and at the same rate – as anything else you eat. But, it could be a choking hazard for your little brother or sister (under the age of three), so they should not chew gum.
