Have you ever thought you messed something up, only to discover that the result tumed out to be totally cool? Believe it or not, that’s how a lot of everyday products first came into the world. Here are a few examples.
SILLY PUTTY
Scientists were trying to make synthetic rubber and accidentally ended up with this bouncy, stretchy stuff. It seemed worthless. How could it be used?
Here’s the lucky part: A toy salesman happened to see some adults playing with it and realized that it would make a great toy. With only $147, he started a company to sell the goo and named it Silly Putty. Today the factory uses a cement mixer to mix the ingredients and a taffy machine to slice it into little portions. More than three million Silly Putty eggs are sold each year.
SAFETY GLASS
In 1903 Edouard Benedictus, a French chemist, accidentally dropped a glass container on the floor. He expected the floor to be covered with little bits of glass. Instead he found that the broken pieces were held together against a thin film of liquid plastic, which had been inside the container. Benedictus was inspired. From this lucky accident, he invented a glass that, if it breaks, does not shatter. It’s called safety glass and it’s used primarily for automobile windows.
Plan(t) ahead: It takes 3 years for asparagus to grow big enough to eat.
In 1928 a 23-year-old employee of the Fleer Company invented a bubble gum that wouldn’t stick to people’s faces. As he was mixing up the first batch, he realized he’d forgotten to put any color in the gum. The next day, he made a second batch. This time he remembered to color it. What color should he make it? He looked around the lab. The only color dye he could find was…pink, so that’s what he used. The color stuck. And that’s why most of the bubble gum sold today is pink.
STICK MATCHES
In 1827 an English pharmacist named John Walker was trying to create a new explosive. He was mixing some chemicals with a wooden stick when he noticed a tear-shaped glob had dried on the end of the stick. Trying to clean it off, he scraped the stick across his stone floor and, all of a sudden, the tip burst into flame. Walker had accidentally invented the world’s first friction match.
Shh! The formula for Play-Doh is top secret—Playskool keeps it under lock and key.