Lickety Split: Unraveling the Secrets of the Tootsie Pop Adventure
Through Science, History, and Culture, We Take a Delectable Journey of the Infamous Tootsie Pop Puzzle
Have you ever wondered how many licks it takes to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop? That actually seemed like an important and prominent question growing up in the 80s. Do you remember this commercial?
Was the owl right? Is it really, 3 licks?!
Tackling this subject today, I knew in the back of my head that someone has actually (literally) studied the science behind this 30-second commercial and set out to specifically determine how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
Usually, I would resort to the Google machine but today is a new day. It’s time to port all of your queries over the ChatGPT.
Welcome to our journey of A.I. We begin today. Also, I swear I was not high when doing this.
I opened up ChatGPT on the fly and asked:
Gather all the scientific data and anecdotal data and articles you have gleaned about how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. Analyze that and spit out the key findings in bullet points.
Like many replies from ChatGPT - it starts out with the caveats:
“As an AI language model, I don't have the ability to physically conduct experiments, but I can provide information on the scientific and anecdotal data related to the question of how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop….”
It then goes to town!
Anecdotal Data:
- The Tootsie Pop company launched a commercial in the 1970s featuring a boy attempting to count the number of licks it takes to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop. In the commercial, the owl takes three licks before biting into the candy.
- Many people have attempted to count the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, with reported numbers ranging from a few dozen to several thousand.
- There is a Guinness World Record for the most licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, set in 2015 at 1,000 licks.
Scientific Data:
- In 2015, a group of engineering students from Purdue University used a licking machine to determine that it takes an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
- Another study conducted in 2015 at New York University used a combination of human lickers and a machine, and found that it takes an average of 411 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
Key Findings:
- The number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop can vary widely depending on various factors.
- Scientific studies have found that it takes an average of 364 to 411 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
- The Guinness World Record for the most licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop is 1,000 licks.Now that we have the basics I went in for more serious questioning:
Now determine the feasibility, the approach, and the strategy, to see how many people and how many licks it would take to get to the center of a tootsie pop that is the size of a bowling ball.
This answer took it less than 4 seconds to spit out:
Based on the available data and the assumption that the Tootsie Pop has a consistent density throughout, it is possible to estimate the number of people and licks required to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop the size of a bowling ball.
Feasibility:
It may be difficult to obtain a Tootsie Pop the size of a bowling ball, as this is not a standard product.
The physical size and weight of a bowling ball-sized Tootsie Pop may make it difficult for an individual to lick, requiring the involvement of multiple people.
Approach:
It may be feasible to use a machine or multiple machines to simulate the licking action required to reach the center of the Tootsie Pop.
Alternatively, a team of individuals could take turns licking the Tootsie Pop until the center is reached.
Strategy:
To estimate the number of licks required to reach the center of a bowling ball-sized Tootsie Pop, a small-scale experiment could be conducted using a smaller Tootsie Pop of known size and density.
Based on the results of this experiment, an estimation of the number of licks required to reach the center of a larger Tootsie Pop could be made.
To determine the number of people required, the estimated number of licks could be divided by the number of licks an individual can typically achieve before experiencing fatigue or discomfort.
Overall, while it may be possible to estimate the number of licks and people required to reach the center of a bowling ball-sized Tootsie Pop, the practicality and feasibility of such an experiment are limited.I’m sure we could figure out the exact number of crazies to lick that ball together but I decided to move on… I asked it:
If a tootsie pop was the size of the planet earth, how big would a being have to be to get to the center of it I looking at 1000 times?
Assuming that the Tootsie Pop is a perfect sphere with a consistent density throughout and a diameter equal to that of the planet Earth, which is approximately 12,742 kilometers, and that it takes 1,000 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop, we can estimate the size of the being required to achieve this feat.
To start, we need to calculate the distance from the surface of the Tootsie Pop to its center. This can be done by dividing the diameter of the Tootsie Pop by two, giving us a radius of approximately 6,371 kilometers.
Next, we can calculate the distance traveled with each lick. Assuming that each lick is approximately 1 centimeter in length, and that it takes 1,000 licks to reach the center of the Tootsie Pop, the total distance traveled would be 10 meters.
To determine the size of the being required to travel 10 meters with each lick, we can divide the radius of the Tootsie Pop by 1,000, giving us a distance of 6.371 kilometers. This means that the being would need to have a size of at least 6.371 kilometers in order to lick 10 meters with each lick.
In comparison, the Earth's largest creature, the blue whale, has an average length of around 25 meters. This means that a being that is at least 6,371 kilometers in size is far beyond anything found on Earth, making it highly unlikely that such a being exists. But I had to take it further with some reverse logic.
Assuming that a whale can lick a tootsie pop. How big would the Tootsie pop be if it took him 1000 licks to get to the center.
If it takes 1,000 licks for a whale to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop, and assuming that each lick travels a distance of 1 centimeter, the total distance traveled by the whale would be 10 meters.
To estimate the size of the Tootsie Pop, we need to determine the distance from the surface of the Tootsie Pop to its center that the whale would have licked. Assuming that the whale's tongue is approximately 5 meters long, the distance from the surface of the Tootsie Pop to its center that the whale would have licked with each lick would be 5 meters.
Dividing the total distance traveled by the whale (10 meters) by the distance traveled with each lick (5 meters) gives us an estimate of the number of licks required to reach the center of the Tootsie Pop, which is 2.
Therefore, if a whale took 1,000 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop, and assuming that each lick travels a distance of 1 centimeter, the size of the Tootsie Pop would be approximately 20 meters, or 65.6 feet in diameter.In conclusion, the question of how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop may not have a definitive answer, but it certainly makes for an interesting conversation. And who knows, maybe someday we'll find the answers to all of our confectionary questions.
This is the crazy journey of AI I will be taking you on.
Join in.