Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Another Accidental Discovery

Another accident that led to an important product was the discovery of polytetrafluoroethylene.  While attempting to develop a new refrigerant, perfluoroethelyne polymerized inside a pressurized container.

1 comment:

  1. Polyacetylene, the first inherently conductive polymer was also an accident - the student slipped a decimal place and added 1000x much as was planned. So I guess the lesson is if you want to win a Nobel prize, make a mistake, a very big mistake!

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