Some researchers at New York University have finally solved the one single question that has bewildered millions of humans around the globe for decades.Yes, they determined the number of licks it takes to reach the center of a tootsie pop.
A study was conducted to measure the effects of dissolving material (via ABC News):
For those patient enough to not take a bite, graduate student Jinzi Mac Huang determined it would take 1,000 licks to make it through one centimeter of candy, which is approximately half the length of one Tootsie Pop. The study was done to explore the effects of dissolving materials within a fluid flow, such as rocks in geological environments and pills for pharmaceutical applications. The lollipop angle was just a fun side effect.
“We used these results to figure out in general how fluids dissolve materials, and we realized that that is basically what you’re doing when you’re enjoying a lollipop,” applied mathematics professor Leif Ristroph told ABC News.
Many people with way too much time on their hands have actually attempted to find the number of lucks and, with numbers ranging between a couple hundred and a couple hundred thousand (yes, seriously), we’ve never been given a firm answer.
Is this answer of 1,000 sufficient enough for all the curious minds out there?
[ABC News]
