How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lipop?

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.