What explains the result?
Gelatin and sugar create a porous food material that takes up liquid; it is not living tissue and is not a faithful cell model.
LIFE SCIENCE · GRADES 4–8
Gummy bear water uptake
INVESTIGATION QUESTIONHow does soaking liquid change a gummy bear's mass overnight?
● ILLUSTRATIVE SCIENCE MODEL
ENGLISH CAPTIONS
Weigh matching bears. The starting mass is the baseline for calculating each bear’s mass change.
0.0 / 3.0 s
Where does this matter?
Food texture and water movement matter in cooking, candy making, and food storage.
What should you keep in mind?
Values shown in this visual model are illustrative. Bear recipes and colors differ; weigh before and after, blot consistently, and record real measurements.
INVESTIGATION 02 · DIFFUSION & OSMOSIS · GRADES 6–12
What makes a gummy bear swell?
Compare three conditions, quantify the change, and decide how far this candy model can take us.3 TREATMENTS OVERNIGHT SOAK DATA-LED
GEL NETWORK / OSMOTIC RESPONSESTATION 01 / 06
A / LOW SOLUTEREADY
Distilled water
100 mL · dilute outside solution
B / HIGH SOLUTEREADY
10% salt water
100 mL · about 10% salt solution
C / ACIDIC MEDIUMREADY
Vinegar
100 mL · acidic solution
MODEL LIMIT
A gummy bear is a polymer gel, not a cell.
Osmosis is commonly taught with this activity, but the candy does not have a living cell membrane. Water absorption occurs through a gelatin-and-sugar polymer network. Use it to observe swelling and compare treatments, then compare its limits with osmosis in cells.