Popcorn Facts
Science Project #4: How Fast Do We Eat Popcorn?
Here's a simple experiment that calls for some private-eye stuff. You're going to observe people eating their popcorn and record how long it takes them to finish or put the bag down.
Materials needed:
- Small notebook
- Pen
- Stopwatch
Instructions:
- Work up a data chart to record your results. Take a sheet of paper and write out six columns across the top for your results. The columns should read: name (or description) of your test subject, location, amount of popcorn, start time, stop time, and duration.
- Visit places people eat popcorn. Try the movies or the ballpark. Home is great too, but you have to be pretty sneaky to make sure nobody catches on.
- Select a few test subjects who have just begun eating their popcorn. Record the names or descriptions in your data sheet as well as the location (columns one and two).
- Record the size of the popcorn bag. Small bag? Bucket?
- Record the time the subject begins eating the popcorn.
- Record the time the subject finishes the popcorn or just stops eating.
- Subtract the start time from the stop time to calculate the eating duration. Record the results in your data sheet.
- Repeat with as many subjects as you can.
Questions for discussion:
- What's the "typical" size of popcorn container at a movie? Ball game? Home?
- What's the fastest time to finish a small bag? Medium? Large?
- What's the average time to finish a small bag? Medium? Bucket?
