by GalFisk » Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:46 pm
Teflon?
Indeed.
SPOILER: Roy J. Plunkett was developing a new refrigerant gas, tetrafluoroethylene. But when he wanted to take some out of a cylinder, nothing came out. It still weighed the same as a full cylinder though, so it shouldn't have leaked. When he cut it open, he found a waxy powder. The gas had polymerized into polytetrafluoroethylene, which became trademarked as Teflon.
He wanted to make one aspect of ice (cold), he was confused (because there was no gas in the cylinder), he ended up with another aspect of ice (slipperiness, a key property of PTFE).
Thanks for playing!