Five Accidental Inventions That Became Highly Successful    [24-06-2011] Have you ever invented something? Well, you don’t need to have any professional knowledge to become an inventor. In fact, some of the most wonderful inventions in the world were created purely by accident. This week, let’s take a look at five highly successful accidental inventions! After reading, look around carefully and see if you can also invent something! Anyone can be an inventor if they have a passion for something, and of course a little bit of luck! #1: Saccharin An artificial coffee sweetener 500 times sweeter than sugar was discovered by a chemist named Constantin Fahlberg after working all day in the laboratory. He forgot to wash his hands before eating and found that his dinner tasted unusually sweet. The next day, he tested various compounds and discovered saccharin. #2: Coke Pharmacist John Pemberton was trying to get rid of a headache. He mixed several ingredients together in a kettle in his backyard and invented coca cola. At first, it was sold in drug stores as a tonic (medicine to strengthen the body). It took 8 years for it to become bottled. Now, it has become the most closely-guarded recipe in the world-selling by the billions every year! #3: Vulcanized Rubber Charles Goodyear spent 10 years trying to find a way to make rubber more resistant to heat and cold. One day, Mr. Goodyear spilled rubber, sulfur, and lead onto a hot stove. When he picked up the charred mixture, he finally found what he had been looking for. Now, the rubber is in everything from shoes, hockey pucks, and tires! (Vulcanize means to treat the rubber with sulfur and heat to give it greater strength and elasticity.) #4: Plastic Leo Hendrik Baekeland stumbled onto a soft, pliable material while trying to find a less expensive alternative to shellac; a resin extracted from an insect and used as a natural thermoplastic. Baekeland came up with the “Bakelite” brand of plastic that went into everything from telephone receivers, electronic insulators, radio cabinets, and plastic house ware. Can you imagine a world without plastic? #5: Penicillin A list like this isn’t complete without the most famous and lucky accidents of the 20th century. In 1928, Alexander Fleming forgot to clean his workstation before going on vacation. When he got back, there was a strange mold on some of his laboratory cultures. He noticed that where the mold grew, bacteria did not. Penicillin remains one of the most important antibiotic drug treatments to this day.     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)