Posted on February 15, 2016
Many people celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday, and some of those people celebrated with candy:
So...do we really need more candy today?
Actually, gumdrops are more than just candy – they are a great building material! Today, you can enjoy doing experiments with gumdrops, building models of gumdrops, playing with gumdrops, AND eating gumdrops!
- Gumdrop atoms at Teach Engineering
- From Scholastic, gumdrop sodium chloride models and covalent molecules models
- Gumdrop geodesic dome from Scientific American
Learn about gumdrops...
Gumdrops are made of gelatin, coloring and flavoring, and of course lots of sugar. They are available in fruit or spice flavors.There isn't one simple story about how gumdrops were invented, although everyone seems to agree that they were invented in the U.S. A lot of people float around the “fact” that they were invented in 1801, but there are no details to check – no who, where, etc. The first mentions in print of “gum drops” seem to be in Illinois, in 1859, and Washington, in 1860. Certainly by the end of the 1800s, gumdrops were popular.
The first modern gumdrop was created in 1915 by a fellow named Percy Truesdell.
Did you know...?
The Apollo 9 Command module was nicknamed “Gumdrop” because of its shape. Also, the fact that it arrived at Cape Kennedy in a blue cellophane wrapper didn't hurt!
- An old fashioned saying, “goody, goody gumdrops!” is supposed to indicate huge delight.
- The popular Candyland game includes Gumdrop Mountains and Gumdrop Pass.
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