Look What I Found - Accidental Discoveries Quiz

Answer: A type of bacteria

There are two types of bacteria, namely Gram-positive and Gram-negative. Staphylococcus (plural form is staphylococci) is a type of Gram-positive bacteria. Penicillium notatum is only effective against Gram-positive bacteria.

Prior to his discovery of penicillin in 1928, Fleming was noted for his work on the enzyme lysozyme.

In 1928, Fleming was away for his vacation with his family. He left many petri dishes that contained the staphylococcus bacteria in his laboratory. After coming back from his vacation, he made an amazing discovery based on his observation on one of the accidentally contaminated petri dishes. The petri dish was contaminated with a type of fungus, which was later identified as Penicillium notatum.

Fleming observed that the contaminated staphylococcus colony was destroyed. He hypothesized that this was caused by the presence of the contaminant, Penicillium notatum fungus. He did more work and research in this field.

Unfortunately, he gave up on his project after he found out that the cultivation of Penicillium notatum fungus was extremely hard. Furthermore, he also found it difficult to isolate the antibiotic agent or substance from the fungus.

It was not until 1940 before Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain continued the research in this field. Both of them were credited with the mass production of Penicillium notatum, which was later used to treat thousands of wounded soldiers during the World War II.

Fleming, Florey and Chain shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for their work on the finding and mass production of this penicillin antibiotic.

Nowadays, penicillin drugs are still used widely to treat many diseases that are caused by bacteria, such as pneumonia (lung inflammation) and meningitis.

Answer: Sulfur

Goodyear was credited for his discovery of vulcanized rubber. He made his discovery by simply brushing off his hands. Little did he realize that the "dirt" on his hands were actually a mixture of rubber and sulfur.

The rubber melted when it came in contact with the hot iron stove. The yellow sulfur powder mixed and reacted with the rubber to produce the world's first vulcanized rubber.

Goodyear published his discovery in his book entitled "Gum Elastica" in 1853. However, he did not earn much from his invention. In fact, he died with debts over 200, 000 US dollars.

The vulcanization process was named after the Roman God of Fire, Vulcan.

In vulcanization, the rubber molecules (polyisopropene) are cross-linked by sulfur. Strong covalent bonding is formed between the cross-linked polyisopropene by the sulfur atoms. This cross linking improves the elasticity and tensile strength of the vulcanized rubber.

Answer: Iodine

The atomic number of iodine is 53. There are all together five halogens on the periodic table of chemical elements - fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine.

Courtois was working for the French government during the Napoleonic War. He was among a team of scientist who were assigned to produce gunpowder. One of the major components that was used in the mass production of gunpowder was saltpeter, or potassium nitrate. Potassium nitrate was synthesized from sodium carbonate, which was obtained from wood ashes.

However, when the supply of wood ashes was running short, some of the scientists proposed that they could use dried seaweed instead to obtain their sodium carbonate.

The residue produced from the chemical reaction was treated by mixing sulfuric acid to the excess sulfur.

When Courtois added in too much sulfuric acid, the violet-gray color element that was produced was later identified as iodine.

Iodine is since used widely as disinfectant and antiseptic.

Answer: Polyvinyl chloride

Regnault left a flask of vinyl chloride solution under sunlight. The sunlight (photon) provided the energy for the polymerization process to occur.

PVC is produced through the polymerization process. The vinyl chloride monomers are linked together to form the long-chain polyvinyl chloride polymer.

Another chemist, Eugen Baumann from Germany also made the same discovery independently in 1872.

A vinyl (also known as ethenyl) carbon refers to the first carbon atom in the side chain -CH=CH2. The chemical formula of vinyl chloride is CHCl=CH2.

Nowadays, PVC, polyethylene and polypropylene are used widely in various manufacturing industry. PVC is used mainly as insulation of electric wires. It is also used in clothes and pipes manufacturing.

Answer: Mercury

Louis Daguerre, or his full name, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, was most recognized for his daguerreotype technique in the world of photography.

He loved painting very much. He performed some simple experiments with photographic plates. Those plates were coated with a layer of argentum (silver) halide, in which the halide particles would be deposited to form images or photos when they were exposed to iodine vapors.

One day, he left some of his undeveloped photographs in his closet. On the next morning, he was amazed to observe a clear and sharp image. He knew that this special photograph must have reacted with some other chemical reagent in the closet.

Later, he realized that the chemical reagent that was responsible for the reaction was actually the mercury liquid from a broken thermometer.

Answer: X-rays

Wilhelm Roentgen, or his full name in German, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was also known as the father of diagnostic radiology. Nowadays, x-rays are used widely in the field of medical imaging.

By 1895, scientists had discovered that when a small electrical current was passed through a vacuum tube, a type of ray that was known as cathode rays would be produced.

Many scientists had come up with their own vacuum tube designs to produce the optimal result. Roentgen did his own experiment with a Lenard's tube. This tube was special in a way that it was equipped with a thin aluminum window to direct the cathode ray produced to the exit. Furthermore, a hard cardboard was placed to protect this aluminum window from being damaged by the strong radiation that was required to initiate the production of the cathode ray. Roentgen knew very well that this hard cardboard would definitely block the light or cathode ray produced from escaping from the tube, yet he noticed a fluorescent effect when he used a cardboard that was painted with a type of chemical reagent known as barium platinocyanide (barium platinum cynide).

He knew that the fluorescent effect was not caused by the cathode ray so he was thrilled to learn that he had discovered a new type of ray. He named it x-ray temporarily after the mathematical unknown, x.

The very first x-ray picture was taken by Roentgen. It was an image of his wife, Anna Bertha's hand. Roentgen eventually published his finding in 1895 in his paper entitled "On A New Kind Of Rays" (Über eine neue Art von Strahlen).

Answer: Uranium

Antoine Henri Becquerel was born in Paris, France in 1852. He shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 together with Pierre Curie and Marie Curie for their discovery of radioactivity.

While performing his experiment, Becquerel wrapped a chosen photographic plate with a piece of black paper. This prevented light from escaping from the plate.

Becquerel was very lucky because it happened that one of the phosphorescent crystals contained a small amount of uranium, which was a radioactive element. The nuclei of these uranium atoms were very unstable and they underwent radioactive decay.

Not long after that, Pierre Curie and Marie Curie discovered radium, which was also a radioactive element. Marie Curie was the first woman recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

The SI unit of radioactivity is named after Henri Becquerel. One becquerel (denoted as bq) is defined as the number of decays per second.

Answer: Potassium and calcium

By treating the heart that was taken from a dead frog with a pure sodium chloride (NaCl) solution, Ringer found that the heart would continue beating for a few seconds.

One day, Ringer made an astounding finding when he noticed that the heart actually continued beating for more than an hour. Upon investigation, he found that his assistant had recklessly replaced the distilled water with tap water, and the tap water happened to contain the exact amount of potassium and calcium elements to produce a perfect Ringer's solution.

Nowadays, Lactated Ringer (LR)'s solution is used widely in the medical field. The main components of this solution are lactate (lactic acid) and four ions - sodium, chloride, potassium and calcium.

Answer: Lysergic acid diethylamide

Hoffman was studying the special property of the ergoline compound in a laboratory in Switzerland when he suddenly felt dizzy. He stopped his works in the laboratory and went home to take a nap.

The nap turned into an unexpected hallucination. Below is Hoffman's description: "...affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away."

Three days later, he returned to his laboratory and ingested another 250 micrograms of LSD to confirm his finding. He was right - once again, he suffered severe hallucination.

Hoffman published his autobiography book entitled "LSD: My Problem Child" in 1980. He died in 2008 at the age of 102.

Answer: Cowpox

Dr. Edward Jenner was a famous English doctor. He performed his experiment by injecting a substance that he extracted from cowpox into a farm boy. Next, the boy was injected with smallpox substance. Jenner's prediction was absolutely right - the boy did not contract smallpox.

Both cowpox and smallpox were caused by similar viruses. After a person contracted the less life-threatening cowpox disease, the white blood cells in human body acquired and developed active immune system that prevented him or her from contracting the much feared smallpox disease.

The term vaccine was coined by Jenner himself. This word is derived from a Latin word - "vacca" which means cow.