accidental inventions

1. Bondary secondary
school
Project
Accidental inventions
that changed the world
Authors:
Kazmina Nastya,
Terekhova Oksana,
Yeltsova Yulia,
11th grade students
2013

2. Accident is the name of
the greatest of all
inventors.
Mark Twain

3. Aim
Identify the significance of accidental
discoveries to society’s progress.

4. Tasks
1. Review the list of accidental discoveries.
2. Give a precise definition of the accidental
discovery.
3. Determine their value to society’s
progress.
4. Give a detailed description of the opening
of some inventions.
5. Make a conclusion about the significance
of these inventions for Mankind.

5. Hypothesis
If these inventions were not be done we
would not have such useful things like a
microwave.

6. Steps of research
OGive the definition to the world
«accidental inventions».
OFind out why such inventions
were appeared.
ODescribe these inventions.
OAnalyze the frequency of their
mention in the Internet.

7. Actuality
"Random" is the invention which is the result of errors
in the creation of an entirely different inventions.
Louis Pasteur once said, "chance favors the
prepared mind." That's the genius behind all these
accidental inventions - the scientists were prepared.
They did their science on the brink and were able to
see the magic in a mistake, set-back, or coincidence.

8. Microwave
In 1945, the American scientist Percy Spencer
Libaron was busy studying and developing
Magnetronov. Standing near the operating
magnetron, Spencer noticed that the
chocolate bar in his pocket began to slowly
melt. Through engineering mind he quickly
realized that the reason for this may be the
micro-waves emanating from the instrument is
turned on. Later, he began to experiment with
popcorn, and finally experienced the impact of
micro-waves on the egg, which is a result of
this experiment exploded. Incidentally, the first
microwave oven was the size of a huge
refrigerator.

9. Super glue
Dr. Harry Coover, in 1942, worked for
Eastman Kodak; his job was to find a
plastic that could be used as a clear gun
sight. During his research, he observed
that the compound used, cyanoacrylate,
was very sticky, it polymerized on
contact with moisture and stuck to the
test material and thus, discarded it. After
about 6 years, he again came across
cyanoacrylates and this time set to work
on it realizing it could form an adhesive
that did not require heat or pressure to
develop a strong bond. With a bit of
chemical change, "Alcohol-Catalyzed
Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Composition"
or Super glue came into existence.

10. Note stickers
In 1970, Spencer Silver, a researcher
working for a large American corporation
3M, tried to develop a highly-adhesive
fixing, but the result was very
disappointing. Clay turned weak. Bosses
have made him a scolding and all
forgotten about it. 4 years later, Arthur
Fry, a 3M employee who is also a
member of the church choir and was
concerned about the disadvantage of
using a bookmark for a church song
books, so I decided to use an invention
of his colleague Spencer. So he began
to make bookmarks that can be safely
unstick and they did not spoil the book.
So, in 1977, record labels have been put
into mass production.

11. Potato chips
In 1853, at a restaurant in New York
served a very important and famous
railroad magnate Cornelius Venderbilta.
He ordered a side dish of fried
potatoes, but criticized the awful that he
served time after time - that is too thick
or too moist. Then, after another
attempt to please fastidious client, Chef
- Chef decided to bring the situation to
the point of absurdity and cooked
potatoes paper-thin in an excessive
amount of oil. Enraged Venderbilt
skeptical last attempt cook until it tried
what he obtained. Since then, more and
more customers began asking for a
new side dish.

12. Slinky
These springs are fun, step by step, one by one or
in pairs, publishing funny rustling went from ... a
spring that fell off the table. To be more precise, the
spring that had fallen from the table marine engineer
Richard James, who as you said, like a spring that
fell to the floor, writhing and twisting before you stay
still. After several prototypes, Slinky (the name was
coined by James wife, Betty) on sale of numerous
toy stores across the country in 1948. It should be
noted that even after that, such springs are used as
mobile radio antennae during the Vietnam War.

13. Popsicle
Frank Epperson was trying to make soda pop
by mixing soda water powder and water.
Accidentally, he left the soda out on his porch
all night. It was so cold that the concoction
froze with the stirring stick still in the cup.
He was only 11 at the time, and he didn’t
realize what he had invented. The following summer he made
the treats in his freezer and called them Epsicles (a combination
of Epperson and Icicle). Over 15 years later (1923), he changed
the name to Popsicles, and the rest is history! There are very few
kids or even adults who don’t welcome a fruity frozen treat on a
hot summer day.

14. Dynamite
On July 12, 1866, while working in his river
laboratory, Alfred Nobel dropped and shattered a
vial of nitroglycerine on the floor. It should have
exploded but it didn't. He noticed that sawdust on
the floor had absorbed the liquid.
He discovered that the sawdust was mixed with dirt
from the embankments surrounding his factory
buildings. These embankments were made of
diatomaceous earth, which is the fossil
accumulation of silica from dead microscopic single-celled
marine algae. When diatomaceous earth was
mixed with nitroglycerine it stabilized the explosive.
In 1867, Nobel applied for patents for his accidental
invention, which he called "Dynamite".

15. Penicillin
Sir Alexander Fleming knew nothing about
penicillin until he threw away his experiments
and equipment. He was working on a wonder
drug to help cure diseases and was having a
tough time of it. It was when Fleming noticed
that a contaminated Petri dish he had discarded
contained a mould that was dissolving all the
bacteria around it, that the powerful antibiotic,
penicillin, was discovered.

16. Results
We have analyzed 30 Internet sites and have
found out that the most frequent invention is a
microwave (it was used 26 times), the second
place has the super glue (it was used 25 times).
The third place is for potato chips (it was used 20
times), then comes dynamite (it was used 19
times). The fifth place is for note stickers and
slinky (they were used 16 times), then comes
popsicle (it was used 14 times) and the seventh
place is penicillin (it was used 9 times).

17. Conclusion
As for inventions, totally random inventions can not
be, because for any invention there is some discovery
on which it is based. All of the "accidental" invention is
the result of errors in creating a very different
inventions.
These accidental discoveries have become an integral
part of every modern man. It can be in any field such
as medicine, the arts, science, or in the home. So it
can be seen that they were not as random.

18. As for inventions, totally random inventions
can not be, because for any invention there
is some discovery on which it is based. All of
the "accidental" invention is the result of
errors in creating a very different inventions.
Our hypothesis is wright. Sometimes it's
better to be lucky than good.

19. Information resources
O http://sckolnik.ru/shkolnaya-forma
O http://www.mirabell.ru
O http://108.su/search_history_33.html
O http://www.parenting.ru
O http://www.newagent.spb.ru/kak/1075-2010-08-30-
18-58-55
O http://www.molomo.ru/inquiry/casual_inventions.htm
l
O http://www.alfy.ru/articles/487-10-sluchajjnykh-izobretenijj-
chelovechestva..html
O http://www.buzzle.com/articles/accidental-inventions-
that-changed-the-world.html