When I was in eighth grade, I did a science fair topic on "Osmosis Through Semi-Permeable Substances". I think that was the title. Anway, it was subtitled, "How Gummi Bears Can Grow in Water". It came from the idea that people in school would drop gummi bears in the toilets, and that if left there long enough, they sucked up the water and grew.

So that was the whole premise of my project. Stick gummi bears in an assortment of liquids and note the change in size and weight. Interestingly enough, sugar water created the largest gummi bears after 8 hours of submersion. Bet you would never have guessed that, eh? And vegetable oil had the least amount of growth.

I made it all the way to City Regionals. Didn't win anything, but people loved my samples.

So now you know. Go home and drop that little bear in a glass of water and check it out the next day. You'll see what I mean!

Thanks to Stephanie for the idea!

Posted by Yano at July 26, 2003 11:02 PM

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