How Many Licks Does It Take To Get To The Tootsie Roll Center Of A Tootsie Pop?

The average number of licks to get to the center of a Tootsie roll pop is 252. This was the figure that was arrived at following research by a group of Purdue University engineering students.

They had been putting a licking machine to the test and recorded an average of 364 licks to the center of a Tootsie roll pop. A sample group of 20 students replicated the experiment and averaged 252 licks, so humans are much more efficient that machines at licking roll pops.

However, a rival experiment by students at Swathmore School deterimined that on average it took 144 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

Given the large number of variables involved and the methodology used to conduct the experiments, the answer is that there is no hard and fast answer to the question.

Among the variables that come into play are the size of the licker's tongue, the amount of saliva they produce and the amount of pressure they apply to the roll pop.

"Aw you never made it without biting, ask Mr. Owl!!"

Average of 412

There are a number of favourites every child has. Among the top five are always chocolates and ice-creams and tootsie rolls. The tootsie rolls are hand candies that were first marketed by the Sweets Company, based in the United States of America. The tootsie rolls come in different flavours and most popular among them are chocolate, raspberry, cherry and orange.

The kind of popularity the tootsie rolls enjoyed way back in 1966 remains the same even today. The query 'how many licks did it take to get to the tootsie roll centre' became very famous around the time of the launch of the candy. The query has also been part of many candy advertisements and jingles. The answer lies in the ability to either lick through the candy, to the centre, or bite on the crunchy candy. The question when asked casually is expected to result in a child thoroughly enjoying the candy and trying to compete with an invisible competitor. Some famous answers include:
- One, two, three, crunch, crunch………….done!
- Crunch, crunch, done!

The query is also a way of enquiring in to a person's ability to get a job done fast. Out of the obvious context, the answer is supposed to indicate a person's mental and physical co-ordination to complete a task quickly.

Uhh...1..Uhh..2...CRUNCH!!...The world may never know.  :}

I got about 412, but it does matter how big the licks are.

It took me about 714