THE STUDY OF THE FORCE IT TAKES TO BREAK DIFFERENT TYPES OF
COOKIES
Katie Grush
Cary Academy Student 2014
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this experiment was to discover which cookie type took the most force to break.
Force is the push or pull of an object and it is what was used when trying to break Oreos and Girl
Scout cookies. By pressing a cookie onto a force probe, it was found that cookies break easily if
they don’t have something covering the outside of the cookie or something holding the cookie
together in the middle. It was found that of the 5 types of cookies tested, Oreos, Shortbreads, and
Thin Mints were the strongest. This is because all three types of cookies had something on the
outside, something holding the cookie together at the middle, or were very dense cookies.
INTRODUCTION
Force is the push or pull of an object that causes it to change motion or direction. Forces hold the
universe and everything in it together. Exerting a force happens when writing with a pen, lifting
a book, or zipping a jacket. It is also possible to exert a force when throwing a ball, skimming a
pebble across a pond, or hammering a nail into a piece of wood. Forces also cause objects with
mass to change velocity. Velocity is speed that goes a certain direction. Mass is the measure of
how much matter an object has in it. Matter is all around everything because everything is made
up of matter. Matter is made up of tons of little tiny pieces all put together.
A previous experiment was done by a Cary Academy student named Jason H. Jason studied
burning foods. Jason’s purpose in doing this experiment was to determine the rise in temperature
in C of water per g of different types of food. Food was burned under a pot with water in it and
then the temperature was determined. Some results were that Cheetos heated up the water the
most, and peanuts heated up the water the least. Jason concluded that the main thing that changed
the temperature of the water was the way the items being tested were made. Jason thought his
experiment was important to the world because it could be used to make something flammable.
One important thing Jason studied was Calorimetry, which is the study of heat capacity.
Temperature was studied in this experiment and temperature is the degree of hotness or coolness
of something. Temperature is measured with a thermometer.
The shortbread cookie, sold by the girl scouts, contains wheat, soy, and milk. It also contains
enriched flour, sugar, and palm oil. Other ingredients include corn syrup, baking soda, natural
and artificial flavor, cornstarch, and salt. 4 shortbread cookies contain 120 calories and 4.5 g of
fat. There is also 1 g of protein in 4 shortbreads. The new cookie, Cranberry Citrus Crisps is
supposed to be healthier but it still has 4 g of fat in 4 cookies. The Cranberry Citrus Crisp
contains whole grain wheat flour, enriched flour, sugar, canola oil, dried cranberries, malt syrup,
baking soda, salt, and other things. It also has 2 g of protein and 9 g of whole grain. The Thin
Mint is a vegan chocolate mint cookie that has 1.75 g of fat per cookie, and 160 calories in 4
cookies. It contains wheat, soy, enriched flour, sugar, vegetable shortening, cocoa, caramel color,
peppermint oil, high fructose corn syrup, salt, and baking soda.
Oreos contain granulated sugar, 2 kinds of cocoa powder, salt, canola oil, flour, and a premix of
ingredients. Once all the ingredients are mixed together the workers add dry ice to chill the
batter. Keeping a low temperature helps keep the dough from crumbling, and helps to thicken the
batter for when the workers add flour. The dough is shoveled onto a grate and into a molding
machine which presses the brand name and an intricate design onto each cookie. This machine
presses out 5,000 cookies an hour. Now the cookies are put onto a steel conveyer belt where they
circle around in a gas oven to cook evenly. The cookies are put onto another conveyer belt that
divides the cooked cookies into chutes that place the cookies facing different directions. A
cylindrical pump puts vanilla icing on each cookie facing the ground. Machines place icing filled
cookies with non-icing filled cookies that are then separated by mechanical fingers into bunches
of 11. The cookies are sold in stores.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In these experiment cookies, milk, water, vinegar, a force probe, toilet paper, paper towels,
Shortbreads, Thin Mints, Chocolate Chip cookies, Oreos, Cranberry Citrus Crisps, Apple Juice,
Lemonade, and Diet Cola were used to test the force it takes to break different types of cookies.
Toilet paper was put on a force probe. By pushing a cookie onto it, the probe was able to record
how much force it took to break different types of cookies. Each type of cookie was broken 3
times and there were 5 types of cookies. Once the cookie was broken 3 times, an average was
found and the averages were put into a bar graph.
Each cookie was timed while being put in milk for 15 seconds. Using a force probe and toilet
paper, a cookie was pressed into the force probe 3 times and the information was put into a bar
graph.
Using room temperature Thin Mints and frozen Thin Mints the force probe was used again when
pressing the cookies against it 3 times. The data was put into a graph.
Thin Mints and frozen Thin Mints, were put in milk for 15 sec. The cookie was pushed into the
force probe 3 times and the information from the experimenting was put into a graph.
An Oreo was put into milk for 0, 5, and 10 sec and the force probe was used to test how much
force it took after the cookie was in milk to break the cookie. The results were then put together
into a graph.
Shortbreads were soaked for 15 sec in different liquids, including: Apple Juice, Vinegar, Water,
Lemonade and Diet Cola. The force probe was used to determine how much force it took to
break each cookie after being saturated in the liquids. The data was put into a graph.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
8
7
Strength (N)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Oreos
Chocotate
Chocolate
Chip Cookies
Chip
Cranberry
Citrus Crisps
Shortbreads
Thin Mints
Type of cookie
Figure 1: Force it takes to break Different types of Cookies
Oreos took the most force to break because they have 2 layers of cookie, as well as a vanilla
crème inside that holds the cookie together. Shortbreads were second strongest because they are
a very dense cookie and they are hard to break. It would take more force to break the shortbread
cookies because of their density. Thin Mints were third strongest because they have a chocolate
coating that prevents the cookie from breaking or crumbling easily.
Strength (N)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Oreo
Chocolate
Chip
Cranberry
Citrus Crisp
Shortbread
Thin Mint
Type of Cookie
Figure 2: The Force it takes to break different types of cookies when dipped in milk
Thin Mints are the strongest type of cookie because of the chocolate coating on the outside. The
coating keeps the milk from seeping into the cookie center. Due to this, the cookie on the inside
remains dry and holds up when force is applied. Oreos were second strongest because they have
a vanilla coating in the middle to hold the cookie together, even when saturated with milk..
14
12
Force (N)
10
8
6
4
2
0
thin mints
frozen thin mints
Type of Cookie
Figure 3: Force it takes to break a frozen thin mint verses a thin mint at room temperature
Frozen Thin Mints were stronger than Thin Mints because the frozen cookies were frozen solid.
They had been in the freezer for a long time and that means that the whole cookie would be
frozen through. When something becomes frozen, it is more difficult to break and will require
more force to break when compared to a room temperature Thin Mint that is close to melting.
7
6
Force (N)
5
4
3
2
1
0
Thin mints in milk
frozen thin mints in milk
Type of cookie when dipped in milk (15 s)
Figure 4: Force it takes to break a frozen thin mint when dipped in milk for 15 seconds
Milk doesn’t seem to affect how much force it takes to break a Thin Mint verses a frozen Thin
Mint. Again, because the Thin Mints have a chocolate coating it is harder to break the cookie.
Milk doesn’t have a big effect on Thin Mints because the milk isn’t going to be able to do much
harm to the inside cookie. Frozen Thin Mints have a frozen solid outside chocolate layer, so the
milk does even less to the inside cookie, because the milk can’t reach the inside part of the
cookie.
8
7
Force (N)
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 seconds
5 seconds
10 seconds
# of Seconds in Milk
Figure 5: Force it takes to break an Oreo that is soaked in milk for different amounts of
time
The longer an Oreo is soaked in milk, the more milk the cookie will absorb. Oreos soaked in
milk for 5 seconds took almost as much force to break as a dry cookie. This probably means that
the vanilla crème inside held the Oreo together and kept it from crumbling, even though the
cookie was thoroughly saturated!
0.6
0.5
Force (N)
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Apple Juice Diet Cola
White
Vinegar
Lemonade
Water
Type of liquid
Figure 6: Force it takes to break Shortbreads when dipped in different liquids
Shortbreads held up the most when put in Apple Juice and water. One reason that the cookies
took more force to break when put in Apple Juice and water is that Cola, Lemonade, and Vinegar
are all very acidic. Because of the acidity levels the cookie probably responded differently.
CONCLUSION
It was concluded that the more dense cookies, and cookies with additional coatings or fillings
required more force to break. It was also concluded that when wet, cookies are very easy to
break. This was predicted because the cookie will absorb the liquid and then become weaker and
therefore easier to break. This data is important for cookie makers to understand. This
information can impact how a cookie maker/distributer chooses to package their cookies. Other
experiments that could be done include dropping cookies from various heights, testing half
cookies in milk, frozen shortbreads or another type of cookie, or quarters of a type of cookie in
milk.
CITATIONS
Dumas, Leila. Forces, Motion, and Energy. Austin, Texas: Holt Science and Technology, 2007.
Print.
Finch, Jenny, eds. Science Rocks. New York: DK Publishing, 2011. Print.
Henderson, Tom. "Speed and Velocity." Physics Classroom. January 19, 2014. Web.
Henderson, Tom. "The Meaning of Force." Physics Classroom. January 19, 2014. Web.
Jason, H. "The Study of Burning Food." ISP 2012. January 19, 2014. Web.
"Motion,Force, and Gravity." Discovery Education. Web.
trr56, . "How it's Made Sandwich Cookies." January 19, 2014. Web.