Buzz
The question of how many licks it takes to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop has intrigued candy fans since 1970, when the first commercial aired, introducing the famous catchphrase. Although the lollipop makers likely intended the question to be rhetorical, scientists have taken it seriously, attempting to find an answer in the years since—and not always agreeing on the results.
In 2015, researchers at New York University determined the number was 1000. But before you protest, keep in mind that these scientists weren’t just trying to put a certain owl out of business. Their study, published in the *Journal of Fluid Mechanics* in January 2015, focused on how materials dissolve in fluid flow—whether it’s rocks in natural environments or pills in the body... or hard candy in saliva.
By expanding their research to a broader model, they were able to apply it to the classic Tootsie Pop question. “Using that model, we can take an object of any size and a typical flow speed, determined by how fast you lick candy, and figure out how long it would take for all the material to dissolve away,” explained applied mathematics professor Leif Ristroph, one of the authors of the study, to ABC News at the time.
The scientists didn’t exactly tally the number of licks (though they did receive complimentary boxes of Tootsie Pops from Tootsie Roll Industries after the company learned about the experiment), as controlling the test in that manner proved difficult. 'We began testing, and it turned out to be challenging. The urge to simply bite into one was hard to resist,' Ristroph confessed.
Ristroph and his team weren’t the first to try to solve this pressing puzzle. A ‘licking machine’ created by engineering students at Purdue University averaged 341 licks to reach the center. A similar study at the University of Michigan found 411 licks to be the magic number. Researchers at Bellarmine University in Louisville conducted a human-based study, factoring in gender and candy color, and discovered that an orange Tootsie Pop took an average of 148 licks, while a grape pop needed 198. (The full study can be viewed here.)
In the end, Tootsie Roll Industries might have been right all along when they declared that the true answer might never be known.
