1). Teflon: Early 20th Century, Roy Plunkett, chemist, who worked at DuPont (an American chemical company), by chance stumbled upon non-reacting, non-sticking chemicals during their experiments with refrigerants, in during which purposefully tried to find a non-toxic chemical substance for use as a cooler.
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After he kept tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) for a while in small cylinders in a gaseous, frozen state, gas suddenly turned into a waxy substance. Further experiments showed that this wax had some interesting properties, some of which are widely known: this is one of the slippery substances known to man. Dupont quickly patented it, and Today, this substance is known to us as Teflon.
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2). Self-adhesive notes: In 1968, Spencer Silver, a chemist who worked at 3M (American diversified innovative production company), came across a sticky substance of “low stickiness”, while he was trying to make Super strong adhesive for use in aircraft construction. Silver I thought the low stickiness of the glue, which disappeared without a trace and was in reusable to some extent, was helpful but no one agreed with him. He advocated its use for 5 years, before someone in 3M heard him, but even after that it took another 7 years of improvement, of which 3 went there, where self-adhesive notes were created, but they were intended only for internal use, as 3M management believed that they possess very small commercial value. Finally, they submitted notes for notes. tested in several trial markets, but befell them failure in the four cities tested. No one wanted to buy them. Management tried to stop these futile attempts by distributing these leaflets to numerous companies for free. After that every I wanted to get them, and today self-adhesive leaflets are one of the most Purchased office supplies in the world.
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3). Plastic: In the early 1900s, when it came to isolation, shellac was a sought-after material. But in view of the fact that it was made from beetles of southeast Asia, the material was expensive item to import. For this reason, chemist Leo Hendrick Bakeland believed that he could make some money by producing alternative product. What he came up with, however, was molded material that could be heated to very high temperatures, without any changes – plastic.
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4). Microwave: Every Bachelor in the World Must Have grateful to Percy Spencer, a true genius, an orphan who did not finish even high school (although in his adult years he studied self-taught and achieved amazing results by learning everything possible calculations in metallurgy, and has become one of the world’s leading specialists in the manufacture of equipment for radars). While, when he worked as a radar specialist, he often was next to the microwave emitters and stood in front of one of them, when he noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket melted away. Soon after, he conducted several more experiments, and the eggs subjected to one of them exploded completely, and realized the full potential of the microwave in cooking nutrition. It was 1945, and the world, or rather, the kitchen, was no longer the same.
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5). Vulcanized rubber: Charles Goodyear spent many years, trying to find a way to make heat-resistant rubber and the cold. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally stumbled to the mixture that worked. One evening before turn off the light, he accidentally spilled some rubber, sulfur and lead on the stove, as a result of which the mixture was charred and hardened, but there was everything still suitable for use.
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6). Plasticine: Maybe it’s not surprising that stinky, the sticky material that children play with for decades, originally used to clean wallpaper. However, in the middle of the 20th century, people refused to use coal to heat their homes, which meant that their wallpaper was now pretty clean. Fortunately for Cleo McVicker, owner of the company that made this cleaning product remedy (before that they simply copied a well-known recipe a cleaner for home-made wallpapers), his daughter-in-law, engaged in teaching, discovered another version of it application – plasticine. At her suggestion, they ruled out cleaning ingredient, added almond flavor and coloring matter. So on light appeared plasticine.
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7). Superglue: When developing plastic lenses for small arms Arms, Harry Coover, Kodak Laboratory Researcher, by chance received a synthetic adhesive from cyanoacrylate. However at that time he refused his discovery. However, nine years later, he was “rediscovered”, again by accident, but this time Coover was project manager aimed at developing heat-resistant acrylate polymers. During this project, one of his subordinates, Fred Joyner, rediscovered superglue after received it and accidentally glued two prisms together. This time when Coover heard about the “discovery” of Joyner, he decided not to give up him and superglue saw the light as a commercial product.
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8). Slinky Spring: During World War II, engineer navy Richard James, who developed computing monitor capabilities for battleships used special springs that keep tools steady when entering the ocean, accidentally dropped one of them. To his amazement the spring “passed” from his desk to a stack of books and landed right On the floor. He and his wife immediately saw the potential for a toy. James improved the spring tension, which resulted in Slinky. Although the same as in the case of self-adhesive leaflets for notes, people needed to demonstrate what she was doing, before they would buy it. After it was produced about 400 Slinky springs for funds received on a loan, and one from stores convinced to put them up for sale on Christmas Eve, nor one sale never happened. A few days later James himself came to the store to demonstrate the product. All 400 Slinks were sold within 90 minutes after he did it.
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9). Ice cream on a stick: It was 1905 and soda has just became the most popular drink on the market. Eleven year old frank Epperson decided he wanted to try to save some money, cooking her at home. Using a combination of soda powder and water, he received something quite similar to the original, but in distraction left the mixture on the porch all night. The temperature in the street has reached rather low, and when he left the house in the morning, found his mixture frozen with a stirring stick, which he left there. At first, he did not make this discovery. nothing but cooking for yourself a tasty treat on a stick time after time, because he was only eleven. But after 17 years after ice cream was served at the firefighters ball and everyone fell in love, he realized his commercial potential. A year later he made a business out of it and made history.
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10). Saccharin: You know a pink bag of fake sugar, which always lies on a table in a restaurant? As sweet as real sugar – you may be surprised to find out how it was invented. In 1879, Konstantin Falberg, a chemist who tried find an alternative way to use coal tar, returned home after a long working day and the only thing he noticed so this is that the cookies made by his wife were tastes a lot sweeter. Asking her about this, he realized that he hadn’t washed hands after work, and voila – an artificial sweetener.
Time is Money Plastic
