Cold fusion in the NYT

[Tracy R Reed]

On Thu, Dec 02, 2004 at 12:21:48PM -0800, Lan Barnes spake thusly:
> I remember the chemistry lecture where a professor discussed the
> discovery of Teflon (which would have been considered chemically
> impossible at the time -- the 50s). A researcher at DuPont weighed an
> "empty" cylinder of fluorine after an experiment as a matter of routine
> and found it was maybe 0.5 g too heavy. He took off the top, stuck a
> small spatula down in there, and it came back up with traces of
> unexplained white goop on it. It had never happened before. It took

The story of the accidental discovery of teflon is here at the bottom:

http://www.psrc.usm.edu/macrog/ptfe.htm

I don't think he would have found it too heavy. He just weighed it to make
sure it had something in it. It weighed the same so he opened it up to
find out why no gas was coming out and found PTFE aka Teflon.

-- 
Tracy Reed    http://copilotcom.com 
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