There are some inventions that changed our world for ever. Be it a productive invention like the X-Ray and the pacemaker or a recreational and sometimes destructive one like the drug LSD. While most of these inventions were made on purpose for various different reasons, some of them were created purely by accident. If not for these accidents we wouldn't have had these inventions to make our lives that much easier.
Discussed below are some of those inventions that were created by accident, but had a big part in changing the way the world around us worked. While most of these inventions worked wonders in the field of medicine, technology and day to day life, there is one other accidental invention that does more harm than good to the human body Let's check them out.
Check Out with the accidental inventions of the world:
1. Smart Dust
Inventor: Jamie Link
If you were doing an enthusiastic experiment and if it almost works but then suddenly it explodes, wouldn't you be furious? Not Jamie Link, a graduate student at Uni of California. 'Cause when her homework exploded she found out that her one big sensor could work as smaller individual sensors we now use so widely as smart dust.
2. Coca – Cola
Inventor: John Pemberton
The world's most favorite soda, Coca Cola was concocted when civil war veteran and pharmacist John Pemberton had prepared nothing more than a mild medication (also containing cocaine). Probably why it became the biggest soft drink the world has ever seen.
3. Teflon
Inventor: Roy Plunkett
This ultra durable, non-sticky material was accidentally invented by Roy, a chemist who worked for DuPont while he was experimenting with refrigerants. Once he realized its properties Ro patented it and made a fortune.
4. The pacemaker
Inventor: Wilson Greatbatch
A former Navy soldier, Wilson Greatbatch who had started a career in medical research accidentally inserted the wrong resistor to the device he was making to record heart beats and found out that the device gave out a periodic electrical discharge.
5. Post-It notes
Inventor: Spencer Silver
Spencer Silver, a worker at 3M accidentally created a weak adhesive that allowed the paper to stick to a surface but when pulled out didn't paper either. It was considered a failed invention until a colleague Art Fry, pointed out its applications used worldwide today.
6. Microwave oven
Inventor: Percy Spencer
If it wasn't for the Navy radar specialist Percy Spencer's keen observational skills we wouldn't have the oven to quickly heat things up for us. He noticed that the chocolate bar in his pocket was melted when he was working with microwave emitters.
7. LSD
Inventor: Albert Hofmann
Probably the first person to have experienced an acid trip in human history, Albert Hofmann, was researching lysergic acids when he tasted a dab of LSD. It was then that he realized he had created on of the most potent hallucinatory drugs.
8. Super Glue
Inventor: Harry Coover
A researcher at Kodak, Coover was experimenting with cyanoacrylates to make plastic films or lenses for gun sights. He came up with this sticky mess which at first was discarded as useless, but years later was shot to fame as super glue.
9. Velcro
Inventor: George de Mestral
Swiss engineer George, while out for hunting noticed that burr or the seed casing from flowers stuck to his dog's fur. He observed that these cases were stuck pretty firmly and yet could be peeled off with relative ease. He then went to his lab and created the modern day velcro.
10. Safety Glass
Inventor: Édouard Bénédictus
A chemist from France Édouard Bénédictus discovered that the flask that he had knocked off his table accidentally hadn't shattered due to the recent coat of plastic cellulose nitrate on its inner layer. And that this enabled the flask to break but not shatter.
11. Corn Flakes
Inventor: Will Keith Kellogg
Our beloved breakfast cereal was invented when Will, who was working for his brother's infirmary. He used to prepare meals for his brother's patients and one day he discovered that the bread dough he had left on his table had become hard and crunchy. This was then baked to make corn flakes, one of the most used easy snacks in the world.
12. X-Ray
Inventor: Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Röntgen a physicist was working with cathode ray tubes when he discovered that the radiation was going through the cardboard barrier and making the chemical inside the tube glow. He then perfected this X-radiation or X-ray.
13. Anesthesia
Inventor: Crawford Long, William Morton, and Charles Jackson
The credit for inventing anesthesia goes to these guys, Crawford Long, Wiliam Morton, and Charles Jackson for observing the numbing effect produced by gases such as nitrous oxide. These gases would then be used extensively as numbing agents while performing critical surgeries.
That ends our list of accidental discoveries and inventions that changed the world. If you like it use the reaction buttons or leave a comment below.
