With today (July 20) being National Lollipop Day it brings me back to the question of how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

All I remember is the old TV commercial where Mr. Owl is asked that very question by a young boy.

After taking three licks he crunches it and determines it takes three licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

Lucky for us a group of engineering students at Purdue University recently conducted a more scientific study to find out.

First they had to determine to proper way to lick the Tootsie Pop - From one side? Both sides? What's the size of the average tongue? How much pressure should be applied?

They came to the conclusion it would be best if they created a licking machine in order to re-create consistency. They then tested the machine with real Tootsie Pops.

What they found was it took an average of 364 licks (from one side) to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop - with the machine.

When using their own real tongues, however, the number of licks dropped to an average of 252.

Other independent studies have been done over the years and came up with basically the same results - it takes an average of 508 licks (when licking both sides evenly).

So if you do the math we can say It takes the average adult approximately 252 licks (from one side) to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

To read more interesting facts about the Tootsie Roll, here's a website for you to check out.


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