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Accidental Discoveries: Laughing Gas to Dynamite

Scholastic Canada
ISBN 0-590-51425-3
144 pages
Ages 8-11

by Larry Verstraete

Many inventions and scientific discoveries — from the Slinky toy to Post-It notes — have been made "by accident." Here are almost 50 stories of unexpected discoveries that have influenced our lives.


	Accidental Discoveries- Laughing Gas to Dyanmite At the Edge- Daring Acts in Desperate Times Extreme Science Lost Treasures- True Stories of Discovery Survivors!


	...check out more Reference books!

Excerpt from ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERIES
by Larry Verstraete

George de Mestral (1948)
VELCRO

George de Mestral was on a hike through the woods when inspiration struck. Bothered by annoying burrs that stuck to his clothing, de Mestral stopped to pry them loose. What made them so difficult to remove? he wondered. A closer examination showed that the burrs had hook-like arms that locked into the open weave of his clothing. The discovery led de Mestral to invent a hook-and-loop fastener of his own. Today his invention - Velcro - can be found on everything from clothing and lunch bags to space suits and spacecraft.

From Accidental Discoveries: Laughing Gas to Dynamite, copyright © 1999 by Larry Verstraete.

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