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Polymers made
by Accident.
PTFE - Poly(tetrefluoroethene) - Teflon.
Post-it Adhesive.
Many
of the materials in common use today
were made
by accident. They were made by scientists who
were
working on a different project but had the foresight to
notice the
formation of an unexpected product with
unusual
properties. Examples of products that were made by
accident are PTFE and the adhesive for 'Post-it'
labels.
What is Teflon?
Poly(tetrefluoroethene) or PTFE was
made by a scientist
called Roy Plunkett who was working
for DuPont.
He was
looking at materials which were used in fridges called CFCs.
In one of his experiments he noticed that a waxy substance
had been
produced which was very slippery and did not
react
with other
chemicals.
The material was given the name Teflon
and it was used as the coating for
non-stick
pans for cooking.
Today Teflon has a large number of uses including
bearings, circuit boards, medical
uses and waterproof
clothing.
What is
Post-it Adhesive?
The adhesive for 'Post-it' labels was
made by a scientist called
Spencer Silver who was working
for 3M.
He was doing experiments
with
adhesives (glues) and he was also doing
other experiments,
trying out things which would not
have been expected
to produce a strong adhesive, just to see what the result
was.
He produced a glue which does not
form a strong bond and can
easily be removed without
leaving a mark.
The adhesive is made
from many tiny balls
called microspheres which only allow a little
of the surface of the ball
to stick to
things. It was
several years later that someone found a use for the adhesive.
Post-it
labels have a coating of sticky microspheres
along one side.
The labels are used in offices and
around the home
as a way of temporarily fixing a note to a
surface.
The labels can be removed and
replaced many times.
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