I know I've been neglecting you guys the last days, and I'll probably will again the next weekend, but...
Jingle bells, I hurt my head
With all the wine I had.
And my right hand is numb at last
From all the Wii I played...
Let's look at some stuff that were invented by accidents today!
1. Post-it Notes
In 1968, a Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist, accidentally invented an adhesive substance that could be reused. Unfortunately, no one at 3M or elsewhere thought much of this adhesive material and it remained without a use until 1974. In that year, Arthur Fry came up with the idea of using that adhesive material to make his bookmarks stick in his hymnbook. In 1977, 3M launched the Post-it, but it failed because no one knew what to do with it exactly. They started giving out free samples, and in 1980, the product was a success and was sold throughout the country.
2. Slinky
Richard James, a naval engineer, was trying to develop a spring that would stabilize and support very sensitive equipment on ships and cruisers in 1943. When James accidentally knocked one of these springs off a shelf, he watched in amazement as it continued moving. He experimented with different types of steel wires and tensions until he found the one that worked best. His wife Betty called it the “Slinky,” which meant sleek and graceful. They sold their invention at $1 a piece.
3. Potato Chips
If you can’t eat just one potato chip, blame it on chef George Crum. He reportedly created the salty snack in 1853 at Moon’s Lake House near Saratoga Springs, New York. Fed up with a customer who continuously sent his fried potatoes back, complaining that they were soggy and not crunchy enough, Crum sliced the potatoes as thin as possible, fried them in hot grease, then doused them with salt. The customer loved them and “Saratoga Chips” quickly became a popular item at the lodge and throughout New England.
4. The Sandwich
While the sandwich itself wasn’t invented by John Montagu, it was sure named after him. You see, Montagu was the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He ordered his valet and attendant to bring him meat between two pieces of bread. Since Montagu was an Earl, others in his area wanted the same as him and ordered “the same as Sandwich!” While this is still under debate, it is the most common story told regarding the sandwich.
5. Fireworks
Fireworks originated in China some 2,000 years ago, and legend has it that they were accidentally invented by a cook who mixed together charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter -- all items commonly found in kitchens in those days. The mixture burned and when compressed in a bamboo tube, it exploded. There's no record of whether it was the cook's last day on the job.
6. Insulin
The discovery that led to this life-saving medicine for diabetics is not a tale you'll want to read while munching on lunch.
While it took 1923-era Nobel Prize-winning work by a Canadian doctor and professor, Frederick Banting and John MacLeod, to set the stage for insulin's use as a modern pharmaceutical, the catalyst for their work goes back to an accidental discovery by German physicians in 1889.
Joseph von Mering and Oscar Minkowski were studying digestion in a dog and removed its pancreas. As the days proceeded they noticed that, post-excision, the canine's urine was attracting flies.
Curious, they uncovered that the dog urine had an unusually high level of sugar, which in turn was attracting the insects. They concluded that removing the pancreas led to an onset of diabetes and deduced that the organ must be somehow regulating sugar levels. Further research revealed that a pancreas accomplishes that task by releasing insulin.
7. Super Glue
Aptly named, this incredibly sticky adhesive was stumbled upon by Dr. Harry Coover during his time spent on military research.
According to a biography published by MIT's School of Engineering, Coover was part of a team tasked by the government during World War II to create a type of gun sight forged from an experimental form of clear plastic. That project was abandoned because the substances, cyanoacrylates, were ridiculously sticky and would affix itself to any surface they came in contact with, using any layer of moisture to create a tight, unbudging bond. Too difficult to work with, the concept was abandoned.
Later, working at Eastman-Kodak's chemical division, Coover returned to cyanoacrylates for his work on aviation products, impressed by the fact the substance required no heat or pressure to work its adhesive magic. After growing frustrated yet again that everything in his lab kept getting stuck together, inspiration struck. He got a patent for "Alcohol-Catalyzed Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Compositions," better known by the tell-all name "Super Glue."
In 1958, his company began marketing the tube of miracle glue under the brand name Eastman 910.
Beyond fixing shattered tea cups, cyanoacrylates were later used to seal and treat soldiers' wounds during the Vietnam War. The substance, later gaining FDA approval, is also used during surgical procedures.
8. Teflon
The non-stick coating common on many pots, pans and baking sheets was invented unintentionally by Roy Plunkett of Kinetic Chemicals in 1938.
Plunkett, a chemist, was trying to make a form of refrigerant when he realized that his chemical creation had created a heat-resistant powder that proved to be an incredible lubricant.
In the 1950s, French engineer Marc Gregoire -- prompted by a suggestion from his wife -- created the first Teflon-coated pan.
9. Cellophane wrap
Back in in 1900, Swiss chemist Jaques Brandenberger was inspired by a spilled glass of red wine to design a liquid-repelling, stain-resistant tablecloth for restaurants.
The tablecloth proved harder to make than it sounded, but Brandenberger was intrigued by the plastic coating that peeled off in one failed attempt.
For most of the next decade, the chemist continued to tinker with the formula that created this clear, thin film. In 1912, he patented the material and built a plant to make it under the name cellophane.
Among his first customers was the Whitman's candy company, which used cellophane to wrap, seal and protect its boxes of Whitman's Samplers. Cellophane gained global acceptance when DuPont began making a version in the 1920s.
10. Chocolate
Scientists believe Aztecs were trying to make a beer-like drink when they created chocolate more than 3,000 years ago.
+1. Cheese
A legendary story has it that cheese was 'discovered' by an unknown Arab nomad. He is said to have filled a saddlebag with milk to sustain him on a journey across the desert by horse. After several hours riding he stopped to quench his thirst, only to find that the milk had separated into a pale watery liquid and solid white lumps. Because the saddlebag, which was made from the stomach of a young animal, contained a coagulating enzyme known as rennin, the milk had been effectively separated into curds and whey by the combination of the rennin, the hot sun and the galloping motions of the horse. The nomad, unconcerned with technical details, found the whey drinkable and the curds edible.
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