Young's Modulus of a Marshmallow

Kenneth A. Pestka II

Citation: The Physics Teacher 46, 140 (2008); doi: 10.1119/1.2840976

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 Young’s Modulus of a
Marshmallow
Kenneth A. Pestka II, Dalton State College, Dalton, GA

W
hen teaching the subject of elasticity, it is
often difficult to find a straightforward
quantitative laboratory that can give a
“hands-on” feel for the subject. This paper presents
an experiment that demonstrates the essentials of
elasticity by observing the behavior of marshmallows
under a compressive load. Like other marshmallow-
based activities,1,2 this experiment is straightforward,
fun, and readily extendable to more complicated and
advanced topics.
Linear elasticity is generally introduced in terms of
the stress-strain relationship

Stress = Modulus 3 Strain. (1)

For a simple isotropic material, the stress is typi-
cally written as F/A in units of N/m2 or pascals, where
F is the magnitude of the normal force to the contact
surface and A is the area of the contact surface. The
strain is the dimensionless stretch per unit length
and is given by DL/L, where DL is the change in the
length of the object and L is the object’s initial length.
The constant of proportionality between the stress
and the tensile or compressive strain is Young’s modu-
lus (Y). Using this notation we reproduce the familiar
relationship3,4
F DL
=Y
. (2)
A L
One potential problem is that Young’s modulus is
very large for common laboratory materials. Thus,
precise and often complex instruments are needed in
Fig. 1. Experimental configuration of a marshmallow
under compression.
order to apply a large force or to measure a very small
strain. However, marshmallows have a very small
Young’s modulus (~30,000 Pa); thus they readily
stretch and compress, enabling measurement via visu-
al inspection and making them ideal for introductory
laboratory purposes. They are also environmentally
friendly and make tasty treats!
The experiment is performed by placing standard
calibrated masses (100-1000 g) on a compression
block (in this case ~60-g wooden block) in order to
uniformly compress the marshmallow. The stress is
then determined by calculating the total force (F =
mg) acting on the marshmallow surface area (A). One
issue that must be addressed is the potential instabil-
ity of the wooden block and weights compressing the

140 DOI: 10.1119/1.2840976 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 46, March 2008
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 permanent deformation and rupturing begin to ap-
Young's Modulus of a Marshmallow pear. Thus, the topic of yield strength (the maximum
16000
14000 stress before permanent deformation) and ultimate
strength (the maximum stress before rupture) can be
Stress (F/A) [Pa]

12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000 Stress = 29,000 Pa × Strain
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Strain (ΔL/L)
Fig. 2. A graph of the stress-strain relationship for a
marshmallow under compression. The model predicts a
linear relationship with a zero intercept—thus, Young’s
modulus (29,000 Pa) can be determined from the slope
of the line.
marshmallow. This problem can be resolved by adding
a suitable support structure. An example of a support
structure composed of three wooden blocks is shown
in Fig. 1.
Because marshmallows behave as a viscoelastic ma-
terial, somewhat like rubber, they have several inter-
esting properties. One of these is the effect of creep (a
time and history dependant change in the elasticity).5
In order to minimize this effect, a ~400-g mass should
be placed on the compression block, letting the
marshmallow compress and decompress once or twice
before making measurements. The data should also be
taken relatively quickly once the mass is in place and
then removed immediately after each measurement.
Masses are then added sequentially to the compres-
sion block in 100-g increments while measuring the
initial (L) and final heights (L–DL) of the marshmal-
low. This is most easily accomplished by measuring
the motion of the compression block. The typical DL
for 100 g is about 1 mm. Length measurements are
simplified by taping a section of graph paper (1-mm
scale) to the support structure in order to mark the
location of the bottom of the compression block. The
students will generally obtain a linear relationship for
the first 500-800 grams of added mass (compressing
the marshmallow by roughly 50%) and should be able
to determine a reasonable value for Young’s modulus
from the slope of the graph as shown in Fig. 2. When
the total mass reaches about 1 kg, the presence of
addressed.
With the ever increasing emphasis on material sci-
ence in both physics and engineering, the concepts
learned will have a lasting impact on the understand-
ing of real-world materials. The lab can be used to
emphasize a variety of important fundamental topics
such as Hooke’s law, pressure, force, compression, ten-
0.5
sion, stress, and strain. It is an exceedingly simple lab
to perform and the material costs are low. However, it
should be noted that the most difficult part of this lab
is preventing the experimenters from eating your lab
supplies.
References
1. Andrew DePino Jr., “‘Peeps,’ cream, heads, and food
coloring in a vacuum jar,” Phys. Teach. 39, 56–57 (Jan.
2001).
2. Robert H. Stauffer Jr., “Finding the speed of light with
marshmallows—A take-home lab,” Phys. Teach. 35, 231
(April 1997).
3. D. Halliday, R. Resnick and J. Walker, Fundamentals of
Physics, 5th ed. extended (Wiley, New York, 1997).
4. R. Knight, Physics for Scientists and Engineers with Mod-
ern Physics: A Strategic Approach (Addison-Wesley, San
Francisco, 2004).
5 I. Ward and J. Sweeney, An Introduction to the Mechani-
cal Properties of Solid Polymers, 2nd ed. (Wiley, West
Sussex, 2005).
PACS codes: 01.50.Pa, 46.00.00
Kenneth A. Pestka II is an assistant professor of physics
at Dalton State College. He received his BS and MS in
physics from the University of South Carolina and his PhD
in physics from Penn State. He is currently interested in a
variety of acoustic and astrophysical topics and enjoys the
development of easily accessible and memorable physics
labs and activities.
Dalton State College, Dalton, GA; kpestka@
daltonstate.edu

The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 46, March 2008 141

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