Geology Candy Part 5

Previously:

Part 1 - - Part 2 - - Part 3 - - Part 4

From time to time the ol' sweet tooth demands satisfaction.  But just because it's "cheat day" on the diet doesn't mean your snack can't be educational.  With that, we dive into another installment of our "Geology Candy" series!

Oil may be "Texas Tea" but it looks like it can also be "Texas Oil Drops", A.K.A black licorice jelly beans.  Black licorice can be a divisive issue so this one might not be for everybody.

This one takes the rock candy concept and mixes in crystals and caves to create "Crystal Cave Candy."  They look like they'd make a great addition to your pack during field work.

The holiday season is always good about providing a new round of coal candy.  Unlike past versions we've seen before, these are cinnamon flavored.  What's the connection between cinnamon and coal?  Maybe coal burns and sometimes cinnamon does too?  Maybe?

People like to eat rocks in North Carolina as much as they do everywhere else.  And it wouldn't be a list of Geology Candy without candy rocks making an appearance.  Here you get your choice of jelly bean rocks or gold/silver chocolate.  Bon appetite!

Stuff We Saw in Charlotte Part 5 - Gold Rush

Earth science is clearly in our wheelhouse.  Many people don't realize how much ground that covers.  But if you look, you'll be able to find it.  Where did we find it in Charlotte?  We struck gold at our next stop, The Wells Fargo History Museum.

These samples are similar to the types of gold that 19th century prospectors sold to Wells Fargo.  According to the display gold sold for about $17 an ounce.  Several creative exhibits gave more information about gold including its infamous heaviness:

Visitors can lift up each sample from the bottom to get a comparative feel of heftiness compared to copper, silver and lead.  Which leads to the old time processing methods used to get the gold into something more recognizable:

So we see the final product to the delight of pirates and treasure hunters everywhere:

Tune in again for more Charlotte stuff!  (Probably snow related)