Unforeseen Circumstances Trivia Quiz

Answer: Between ultraviolet and gamma rays

It happened in 1895. While conducting his experiment, Röentgen was surprised to see an incandescent green light projecting onto a nearby fluorescent screen -- with his cathode tube covered in black paper! Further experimentation found that the mysterious light could travel through most substances, while leaving a shadow of solid objects within softer tissue.

'Hard' x-rays - with a wavelength of about 100 picometers (a picometer is one-trillionth of a meter), are very near the range of the EM spectrum where gamma rays lie, while 'soft' x-rays - with a wavelength of about 10 nanometers (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter) are closer to UV rays, which range from 100 to 400 nanometers.

Answer: Radar set

Engineer Percy Spencer was visiting a laboratory in 1945 where radar sets were being tested. As he was standing near the magnetrons, he felt a peanut cluster bar in his pocket begin to cook in his pocket. He quickly did a few more experiments with other foodstuffs, including (pop)corn and an egg, which led to the idea of marketing his discovery. Within the year, a patent application for a 'microwave cooking' process was submitted to the US patent office, and in 1947 the company Spencer worked for (Raytheon Technologies) produced the first commercial microwave oven, called the 'Radarange'.

Answer: Pacemaker

It was Canadian electrical engineer John Hopps who developed the first cardiac pacemaker in 1950, after first developing a defibrillator in 1941, while researching the effects of radio frequency heating on hypothermia. Further experimentation led to the first (external) pacemaker - used on a dog - in 1950.

As the story goes, Wilson Greatbatch was working with a heart monitor in 1956 when he accidentally put in a transistor a hundred times more powerful than the ones he usually used. This resulted in the device emitting electrical pulses very much like a heartbeat. Two years of research and experimentation resulted in the first implantable (in a dog) pacemaker in 1958. In 1960, the first human took an implanted pacemaker - the device extended his life by 18 months.

Greatbatch also worked on developing pacemaker batteries that could last longer than two years. He developed (and marketed) a lithium-iodine battery that was corrosion-free and lasted more than 10 years.

Answer: False

Fleming had actually been experimenting with the influenza virus at St. Mary's Hospital in London. He *did* go away for a two-week vacation, but it wasn't mold on a sandwich that led to the discovery, but rather mold that had grown on a contaminated staphylococcus culture plate. It was on September 3rd of 1928 when he noticed that the staphylococci growth was being inhibited by the mold.

Later that month, after further experimenting, Fleming is reported as saying, "One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I guess that was exactly what I did."

Answer: Viagra

Once they realized what they had, it didn't take Pfizer long to mass market their new drug to combat erectile dysfunction. When it was approved in 1998, there were only options of injection or prosthetic implants to take the drug. An over-the-counter oral treatment arrived later that same year.

In the first ten years of its existence, nearly 30 million men were prescribed Viagra, at a profit of over $1.3 billion in US dollars. The scientific name of the drug is sildenafil citrate.

Answer: Polytetrafluoroethylene

Polytetrafluoroethylene is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that occurred through the equation: n F2C=CF2 → −(F2C−CF2)n−

DuPont patented the new fluorinated plastic in 1941 and registered the Teflon trademark in 1945. And we have all benefitted from its non-stick attributes since then. As Roy Plunkett said in an interview, "From stove tops to outer space... Teflon touches every one of us some way almost every day."

Answer: Super glue

During the first effort, the cyanocrylate was noticed to be sticky, but Coover was trying to make a hard plastic gunsight, and the stickiness was just problematic. Later, while trying to create the heat-resistant polymer, Coover watched as his colleague Fred Joyner used the same substance as before, applying it to a pair of refractor prisms. They bonded together nearly instantly!

When Eastman Kodak (who were overseeing the project) produced the super glue for sale in 1958, they called it "Eastman #910".

Answer: Laminated

Bénédictus's laminated glass - the original 'safety glass' - is comprised of two layers of glass with a layer of celluloid bonded between them. He patented his invention in 1909, six years after the incident described in the question. It would not see common use in vehicle windshields until 1927. Multiple layers of laminated glass make 'bulletproof' glass.

The other options mentioned are all ways to strengthen glass that have been developed. Annealed glass is the most basic - heat strengthened and cooled to provide two times the strength of normal glass.

Tempered takes that same process further, typically beginning with already annealed glass, resulting in a product four to five times the strength of regular glass. Tempered glass is often used in the other windows of a vehicle, as they are easier to cut through in an emergency (than laminated, which likes to hold together), and will shatter into pebbles, rather than jagged pieces.

Wire reinforced is as it sounds, most often used in fire-rated windows and doors as it complies with most fire codes.

Answer: Oil drilling rig

Vaseline is actually 'petroleum jelly', referencing the source of its origin. Chesebrough had been working extracting kerosene from the oil of sperm whales, but that industry was dying out as crude oil and its uses took precedence. He went to see an oil-drilling operation, and observed that a byproduct of the process - 'rod wax' - was gumming up the works.

But the workers would also smear it on cuts and burns as a soothing kind of ointment. Intrigued, Chesebrough investigated the substance, refining it and working it until he developed his 'wonder jelly'.

Answer: Antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch

Walker was actually trying to develop a material that would make starting fires easier - a type of lighter fluid - that could ignite easily and then transfer to a slow-burning fuel like wood. He didn't expect the dried substance on the stick would ignite with friction.

History says that Walker was independently wealthy, and refused to patent his invention, wanting it to be free of use to anyone.