Lab Activity: Calculate Percent Composition of Chewing Gum



Name _____________________________________________________ Date ______________________________ Period _________

Lab Activity: Calculate Percent Composition of Chewing Gum

Objectives: Students will be able to define and calculate the percent composition of a compound.

Background: We’re assuming chewing gum has 2 components - gum and sugar. The sugar will dissolve when you chew it, leaving behind only the gum. Thus, we can calculate the percent of sugar in the gum.

Procedure:

In groups of 4 – 5:

1. Get the mass the cup you will put the gum in.

2. Unwrap the gum and put all of the pieces in the container.

3. Get the mass of the gum and the cup.

4. Calculate the mass of the gum. (This is the “total” gum-includes gum and sugar).

(mass of the gum and cup – the mass of the cup = mass of the gum)

5. Each person chews their piece of gum for 5 minutes.

6. Everyone puts chewed gum back in the cup.

7. Get mass of chewed gum and the cup.

8. Calculate mass of chewed gum. (This is just the gum, no sugar.)

(mass of the gum and cup – the mass of the cup = mass of the gum)

Hypothesis (What do you think will happen to the mass of the gum?):

Data:

|Mass of container | |

|Mass of container and gum | |

|Mass of gum | |

|Mass of chewed gum and container | |

|Mass of chewed gum | |

Analyze Data:

Calculate the mass of sugar in the gum. (Total gum - chewed gum) __________________

Calculate the percent sugar in the gum. (mass sugar/total gum x 100) __________________

Conclusion Questions:

1. Would dentist recommend chewing gum? Why or why not?

2. According to your results, what happened to the mass of the chewing gum? Why did this happen?

3. Would changing the number of pieces of gum change the results of the lab? Explain.

4. What might have affected the mass of the gum after you chewed it, skewing your results just a little?

5. Is chewing gum a mixture? Why or why not?

6. If you said yes to the previous question, identify the type of mixture. Be as specific as possible and explain your reasoning.

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