This question has nearly drove me crazy since those aggravating un-factual commercials when I was a child. Anyway, last week I decided to do my own study and am posting my results here. I started with 100 Tootsie Pops, but I had to discard the results of 8 of them do to accidental biting and another 5 do to damaged product. On average with the remaining 87 Tootsie Pops it took me 677 licks to get to the center.

I'd like to point out a couple of technical details. One being that I stopped counting at the moment my tongue hit the tootsie roll in the center. Second, my tongue when licking is 1 and 5/8 inches wide. The length I used to take each lick was 1 and 1/8th inches long. Lastly, I used all Cherie flavored Tootsie Roll Pops (traditional size).

So finally I have solved this question. It takes between 650 and 700 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie pop. My only regrets are that I was not able to integrate more data from other people and that I have not yet been able to run the same test on other flavors. Could it be that different flavors are effected differently? If any of you here would like to perform the same experiment, I would be happy to bring all the data together so it becomes more accurate. If you do, please note down the exact surface of your tongue that is used for the licking.

714

That brings the average up to 702 now. You both failed to give your tongue measurements. Perhaps you both just have smaller tongues than I?

I believe that MIT did a study on this. They found the measurments of an average tongue and made a "tongue wheel" that would spin around and "lick" a tootsie pop. It took about 1,409 "licks" from the wheel. However, they neglected to put a salene solution (to simulate saliva) on the wheel, so the results are innaccurate. I hav tried this in the past, but I tried seeing how long it would tae when sucking on it. I was 7 and can't remembar that well, but I think it was between 3-5 hours.

Posted By: Fizzer

I wish I had thought of such a thing... Maybe then I wouldn't have to wear this lubricated bandage on my tongue for a month :0(.

If the tootsie pop did that to your tounge the I think it's time for a recall.

Why 87?

8-tracks and :0p. They will LIVE FOREVER!

I thought that the general consensus from the old TV commercials was that the answer was "3".

Actually, I've always firmly believed that "How many licks to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?" was The Question, hence, the answer would clearly be 42.

Sorry 'bout that, but let's get on to the really important news. How did everyone get onto this site?

I'm trying out random smileys
:killer:
:hot:

:nerd:

poop!
they're not working!

You are special.

Maybe you should start your own thread Cody56.

Make sure you read the sticky first.

Yeah, sorry we trampled on all of your research..

Posted By: Athene

I thought that the general consensus from the old TV commercials was that the answer was "3"." start="fileopen" height="15" alt="" isMap="false" hspace="0" loop="1" src="http://factcheck.gullible.info/extensions/Vanillacons/smilies/standard/wink.gif" width="15" vspace="0">

Actually, I've always firmly believed that "How many licks to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?" was The Question, hence, the answer would clearly be 42.

i am amazed by this, so it shares its number with the ultimate answer?
from the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Well, since the events in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy haven't occurred yet to the best of our knowledge (otherwise we'd all be dead), I propose that the Tootsie Roll Pop came first.
Post Scriptum What are tootsie roll pops?

Tootsie is the single largest candy producer in the world, and have been around for over 100 years.

Posted By: Cody56

So.. how did everyone get onto this site?

I got here from PC Mag

It's all Google's fault. I was just innocently adding some stuff to my g.home page and I came across Gullible's factoids, and *then* by mis-clicking, or slip-clicking, which ended me up on the home page here.

I'd like to say it's a happy coincidence, but there are no coincidences.

I dont even remember how I got here.... I might have been doing some research and found it through a google search... I think thats about the most likely way.

I found the site while trekking through the Himalayas. I was on a quest of sorts. While that was in 2004, the journey began a long time ago, when I was just a child. Being the adventurous type, I, a mere ten years old, was backpacking the pacific rim trail when I chanced upon a tribe of nomadic fanatics. My curiosity piqued, I couldn't help but abandon my route to adopt their romantic lifestyle; my heart was heavy with the wanderlust running thick in my blood. I needed, I craved, I longed for the adventure. Much like Mander, little did I know that my chance encounter would shape the world in ways unimaginable.

I spent six years with those fine people. They taught me their ways and their beliefs. And when I was old enough to comprehend, I was told of a great thing that had been lost to their people a thousand generations ago. It was a resource, a compendium, a touchstone upon which their entire existence had been founded. I soon learned that what I thought to be a random meeting among the ancient redwoods of California had been preordained before the seeds from which those towering giants sprung had fallen to fertile mother earth. I had been delivered to them so that I might deliver to them the manifestation of their heritage: Gullible.info.

But what was this mysterious power they sought? None could say with certainty. But they knew its power. They knew its beauty. They knew that it must shine forth as a light to all the world. But most importantly, they knew I would find it. It had been foretold since the beginning of time; retold at the end of time; through the powers that be, it was the foundation of time itself. The day I learned all this, I consider to be the first day of my life. I may have been moving about, carried by my legs and my ambitions, but to finally understand, to comprehend? That was the beginning.

For years I sought. Until one day I found.

Hidden under the stones of the oldest monastery in the world, I found the brightness and beauty that would mark the triumphant procession of humanity: "Everything on Gullible.info is true." Amen, I said. Thus it began. And not even I know how it will end, if it ever ends at all.

That was...Beautiful.