14 DAY TRIAL // As easy-peasy as it might be, it looks like stealing candy from children isn't such a good idea after all, especially if the candy they're holding on to happens to be a bunch of lollipops.
Thus, scientists say that eating such sugary treats is way more exhausting than most people think. In a nutshell, it appears that finishing just one lollipop takes as many as 1,000 licks.
If the researchers behind this investigation are right and it really takes this many licks to finish a lollipop, this might explain why some guys and gals give up half way through and crush them between their teeth.
Documenting how much work it takes to eat a lollipop
In a report in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, researchers with the New York University and the Florida State University in the US explain that, rather than just figure out how much effort goes into licking a lollipop, their investigation had a much nobler and perfectly scientific purpose to it.
More precisely, scientist Leif Ristroph and colleagues say that, as part of this research project, they studied hard candy submerged in a water current looking to gain a better understanding of erosion and dissolution processes. Their insight into how most lollipops meet their demise came as a bonus.
In the paper detailing their work, the researchers make a case of how, while experimenting with hard candy and water currents, they managed to get a new and better insight into how water currents work to shape and eventually dissolve various materials.
“How flowing fluids generate unique shapes through erosion or dissolution is complex and fascinating,” argues study leader Leif Ristroph, now an assistant professor at the New York University's Courant Institute, as cited by Science Daily.
No, the study was not a complete waste of time
True, knowing that it takes 1,000 licks to finish a lollipop isn't going to help anyone, let alone turn the world we live it topsy-turvy. Still, Leif Ristroph and fellow researchers insist that their study was not a complete waste of time.
On the contrary, they say that their finds can benefit both the pharmaceutical and the chemical industry. This is because both these industries experiment with solid compounds placed in solutions and must, therefore, have a good understanding of how various materials dissolve.
Interestingly enough, the New York University and Florida State University scientists who carried out this investigation expect that their work could also come in handy to geologists looking to study how water flows reshape various landscapes.