Clogged sink doomed a space mission
4/19/202626 min
It’s 1926 and two men are working in a lab trying to create antifreeze. Instead, they make a thick, black goo that stinks out the lab and blocks the sink.
ABC Science reporter Fiona Pepper tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) about how this black gunk would go on to be used in cars, rockets and spaceships. And ultimately, would be responsible for one of the deadliest space missions in history.
Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.
Get in touch:
Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[upbeat music] ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music, and more [somber music] The world right now is a disaster.
Sisonke Msimang0:09
It's easy to feel helpless, but there was a moment when millions of people around the world said, "Enough." I'm Sisonke Msimang. Join me for Boycott: The Fight to End Apartheid, how Australians joined others around the world to push back against racism and won.
Fiona Pepper· Guest0:25
Whites-only teams, we thought that to the average Australian, that would be despicable.
Sisonke Msimang0:30
Boycott: The Fight to End Apartheid. Search for ABC Rewind on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Mark Fennell· Host0:37
[playful music] Two men are in a lab, and they've been working hard to try and make antifreeze. They mix two chemicals together and expect to make a clear liquid. Instead, they end up with this black mess.
Fiona Pepper· Guest0:51
Kind of like licorice, I suppose.
Mark Fennell· Host0:54
It is not what they had in mind, and they have to start all over. But it's late, so they decide to go home and deal with the mess in the morning.
Fiona Pepper· Guest1:03
The next day, they come back to the lab. They try to clean up the lab, get rid of this thing that they'd made the day before. So they put it in the sink, and they can't for the life of them wash it down the sink.
Mark Fennell· Host1:15
They throw everything at this blob and just, like, nothing dissolves it.
Fiona Pepper· Guest1:22
It was resistant to oils, to fuels, to solvents. It was elastic. It was c- chemically stable, and basically