5 Accidental Discoveries That Changed The World!

  • 6 years ago
5 Accidental Discoveries That Changed The World!

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A fortunate happenstance or pleasant accident. It may surprise you to know that some of the world’s favorite inventions weren’t planned and tested at all but were complete accidents.Its true, and as you are about to see, we are listing the 5 Accidental Discoveries That Changed The World! Ready? Well...Lets begin!

1. X-Ray

A German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen is credited to the discovery of X-Rays. He was actually experimenting with cathode ray tube, when he noticed an unusual glow in his dark room. He instantly realized that a new type of ray is responsible for that, but didn’t know what kind of ray that was, and simply called it x-ray (x for unknown).What makes x-rays discovery so much groundbreaking is its ability to pass through a number of things and reach at places where our vision spectrum doesn’t allow us to reach. It can penetrate wood, paper and most importantly flesh. Amazing huh?

2. Teflon

There’s is a saying that Teflon touches every human at least once in a day. Teflon is the most important polymer in the world.. As you probably didnt know, it was accidentally discovered in 1938 by Roy Plunkett, when he was attempting to create a new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant. He filled two rare substances in a pressurized bottle and found that the interior of the bottle was coated with a weird waxy white material, which was oddly slippery. And up to this day, we use this accidental discovery almost in our every day life...

3. Sildenafil

Sildenafil is a small blue pill, which is commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction, more popular name of it is “Viagra”. While Sildenafil was a remarkable discovery on its on, but it was all really accidental.In early 1990s a group of pharmaceutical chemists at research facility in England synthesized a compound called UK-92480, intended to treat hypertension and heart disease. Eventually it turned out to be an absolute failure in that department, however, test subjects reported some startling effects below the belt. What’s more fascinating its that it has some side effects and one of them is “heart attack”. So... I wouldnt try this one..

4. Safety Glass

You might know that the windshield in your car is made out of laminated glass sheet, which is less likely to shatter to pose threat to your eyes. Apparently the safety glass which is used to protect you from accidents was itself invented by an accident.Safety glass was actually discovered in 1903, when a French scientist named “Édouard Bénédictus” dropped a glass flask containing plastic cellulose and nitrate and surprisingly, it didn’t shatter as it should be. Later several little tweaks made the safety glass as perfect as we know it today.

5. Lighters

Before lighters were ever created, the only way to get quick and easy access to fire was with strikeable matches. A man named John Walker was trying to find a way to obtain fire easily. While several chemicals were known at that time that could ignite by a sudden explosion, it was unknown that the flame could be transmitted to a slow burning substance like wood.This amazing accidental scientific discovery took place when Walker was preparing a lighting mixture, a match which had been dipped in it suddenly took fire by an accidental friction upon the hearth. Even HE was stunned by this discovery.