Invention Mistakes Trivia
October 27th, 2005· John Pemberton, a pharmacist, created Coca Cola in an iron kettle in his backyard. Pemberton sold it in his pharmacy’s soda bar in Atlanta, Georgia, as a tonic. His bookkeeper named it Coca Cola and scripted the words as they appear today on the Coke logo. By the end of the century, Coca Cola was the leading soft drink in the US – and yes, one of the original ingredients was cocaine.
· In 1905, Frank Epperson, then eleven years old, mixed powdered soda with water and stirred it with a stick. Powdered soda was a popular drink mix in that era. What was different was that young Frank left his soda on the front porch overnight with the stick in it. Overnight, the temperature plummeted. In the morning, Frank enjoyed the first Popsicle which he named Epsicle. In 1923, he applied for, and was granted a patent. His family later changed the name to Popsicle.
· Cheese was discovered accidentally by an Arab nomad. He was traveling across the desert and poured milk into an animal’s stomach. The constant movement, the hot sun and the rennet from the animal stomach created curds and whey.
· The potato chip was created by George Crum, a Native American chef in August, 1953. Apparently one of his customers repeatedly sent his potatoes back to the chef because they were too thick and soggy. The chef, becoming extremely annoyed decided to fix the man by slicing the potatoes paper thin and cooking them until they were so crisp they couldn’t be eaten with a fork. The customer loved them and requested more. The potato chip was born.
by Mary M. Alward
October 27th, 2005 at 11:25 am
New trivia. Great going. Love this site. This is really a fun article on invention mistakes. I knew about Coca Cola, but had no idea about the potato chip, the popsicle or cheese. Keep up the great work. This site is awesome.
October 27th, 2005 at 3:18 pm
Interesting facts. I had never really thought about how popsicles were invented. We never know what life will bring. Imagine an 11 year old inventing it. I wonder how many other things have been invented by kids? An article on kids and inventions or a bit of kid invention trivia would be very interesting. I’ve shown this to my boys and they were amazed to think that they might be able to invent something.
October 27th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
This is all very interesting. I enjoy all of the facts. I did know about Coke, but not about the popsicles, cheese and potato chips. Imagine trying to tick someone off and inventing a new food. Good for Mr. Crum.
October 28th, 2005 at 4:14 am
This is very interesting information. I would like to see more of this type of trivia - the inventions I mean.
October 28th, 2005 at 9:53 pm
These facts are awesome. Where do the writers get these ideas. I wonder if the people who own this site write their own trivia and articles. If so, they are very talented. Like Sue, I would like to read more about inventions if they are anything like these. I love the potato chip one and the one about popsicles. I ate hundreds of chips and popsicles as a kid, but never knew how they were invented.
October 30th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
These are very interesting, especially the one about the popsicle. Just goes to show you that anything can happen. That kids knew a good thing when he saw it. I would like to see more invention mistake trivia. It’s incredible the things that happen.
October 31st, 2005 at 1:59 pm
This trivia is so interesting. Everyday we use things that make our lives so much easier and more comfortable, but seldom do we think about when, why or who invented them. I would love to read more of these.
December 5th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
Hey this is a great site, it helped me with my homework because we had to research a delicious mistake. I had already known about the popsicle, the Coke and the potato chips but I didn’t know about the cheese. I also heard that chocolate chip cookies were a delicious mistake and doughnuts too. I’m sure that lots of people would be interested to hear about these stories so I think that you should include them in your website.
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:28 pm
This wewbsite is really cool. I told my teacher and then she sujested that we might study the origins of food so i might be on this website again.
P.S my friend says hi