10-Year-Old Accidentally Discovers New Explosive Molecule

[RoyalWelsh]

So did the child just put together a model for the craic or did she intentionally put it together with full knowledge of what she is doing.

If it's the former then I really don't care. If it's the latter then "Good for you".

EDIT I was right

"But that?s what happened when Clara Lazen, 10, randomly arranged a unique combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms."

http://now.humboldt.edu/news/not-your-average-fifth-grade-assignment/

Randomly

It was pure chance and she isn't going to be the one researching its uses so well done little girl, you discovered something by accident and will have no involvement in making it useful.

I think you are just sore a 10 year old will have more reknown than you ever will.

I doubt after this week anyone will mention her name again. I can live with her "fame".

Yeah, clearly....

¬_¬

Anyway, good for her, I wish I would accidentally or otherwise discover something cool.

 

[RoyalWelsh]

So did the child just put together a model for the craic or did she intentionally put it together with full knowledge of what she is doing.

If it's the former then I really don't care. If it's the latter then "Good for you".

EDIT I was right

"But that?s what happened when Clara Lazen, 10, randomly arranged a unique combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms."

http://now.humboldt.edu/news/not-your-average-fifth-grade-assignment/

Randomly

It was pure chance and she isn't going to be the one researching its uses so well done little girl, you discovered something by accident and will have no involvement in making it useful.

I think you are just sore a 10 year old will have more reknown than you ever will.

I doubt after this week anyone will mention her name again. I can live with her "fame".

Yeah, clearly....

¬_¬

Anyway, good for her, I wish I would accidentally or otherwise discover something cool.

Yes, I'm seething with rage.

As I said before

"I don't care that much, I just made a comment showing my utter apathy for her which has "offended" many people as we aren't showering this child with praise.

Every week scientists make great discoveries but barely anyone cares, a child randomly does it and suddenly it's news?"

Lol, never said you were angry mate, its all cool.

Just let the kid have this one, ok.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Randomly

Instead of getting hit on the head with an apple, tasting your finger, letting orange go mouldy, serving someone wafer-thin potatoes or any of the other random ways Science is progressed?

Or would you class Gravity, Saccharin, Penicillin, or Crisps as not very exciting?

Why should Douglas Addams get credit for a Fungus moth (Erechthias beeblebroxi)? Simply because he wrote a very famous character with two heads?

Don't forget all the polymers. I can't remember who it was doing the research but the first polymer was created by accident as well.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I dont pretend to understand half of this, but shouldn't the teacher be getting far more credit for seeing the potential?

I imagine it takes a certain kind of person to look at one of those constructs, after week in, week out, staring at about 30 or so over an hour, and go 'hey, there's something important here!'

Having said that, if the kid understoof all the rules of how they fit together, and created a new formation that would work as a new molecule, they also deserve a lot of credit, I'd not take 'randomly' as fact, purely because it's been written by a journalist, and they do so love to fluff up their text with additional words, and randomly makes it all sound like a more exciting discovery.

 

[Rallus]

I still think the girl deserves little credit for it. She's no genius and shouldn't be celebrated as one. If anything the person who noticed this random selection of molecules and the person who actually studied them should be given credit simply because they were clever enough to notice it. The cure for cancer could be goats cheese for all we know, would you call the cheesemaker a genius for making the cheese that cures cancer or the scientist that studied the cheese and found out that it cures cancer?

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Randomly

Instead of getting hit on the head with an apple, tasting your finger, letting orange go mouldy, serving someone wafer-thin potatoes or any of the other random ways Science is progressed?

Or would you class Gravity, Saccharin, Penicillin, or Crisps as not very exciting?

And those people all wrote papers/investigated uses of their discoveries.

Fleming didn't go, "I found an odd mould pattern, would you solve why this has happened please?" to another person, no, he took it upon himself to research it and helped save many people as a result.

He had the intelligence to actually use his discovery unlike this person.

I'm sure everyone who's ever had the chance to use those molecular models at some point during their schooling has just dicked around making random patterns with them at least once, and the vast majority of those just take apart their models again without thinking about it. She displayed a level of intellectual engagement far beyond expectations just by following up on her idea. Does it make her a genius? No, of course not, but it is promising. I know that if I'd discovered a new theoretical molecule, however accidentally, I'd be psyched to take science more seriously in the future. If that's what she does, then it may lead to her going on to make even more discoveries as an adult that she can take full credit for.

 

[Mozza444]

*Snip

I agree with this guy 100%
She really hasn't done anything special, this is what she was playing with:

Spoiler

At a basic level.. all the 'holes' must be filled and joined to another 'ball'.
She made a pretty pattern, that is all.
The fact that it 'could' potentially be something useful is worthless.
If this had any impact on Science, real scientists would be sat in fancy labs playing with their Molymods.

The hard part is finding how to make this molecule and what it even does.

Give me that molecule and i will replace all of those Oxygen atoms with Sulphur.
I have just made a new molecule, and yes its probably just as valid as the little girls.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Don't ever compare her to Beethoven.

Of course not, Beethoven was a hack. This girl's got some talent.

 

[viranimus]

but I would be willing to bet that the next six months of his life will involve little more than fifth-graders storming his desk with nonsensical molecule configurations hoping that they've stumbled onto something. Poor guy.

"I've discovered ice-creamium!"

If it's made into an explosive, she really deserves to have her name on it. Clartex or something.

My vote will go toward Lazenium.

This. Screw giving her co-author credit. Name the friggen thing after her. Besides it sounds infinitely better than tetranitratoxycarbon

 

[Something Amyss]

She's ten. of course she's going to say that blowing up her science lab was an accident.

 

[Mozza444]

Ok, i bring a good example:

Spoiler: I made this when i was younger.. because it looked like a dog

Turns out that is a real molecule... its Ethanol.

Now this is what is actually important:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol

Big difference.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Randomly

Instead of getting hit on the head with an apple, tasting your finger, letting orange go mouldy, serving someone wafer-thin potatoes or any of the other random ways Science is progressed?

Or would you class Gravity, Saccharin, Penicillin, or Crisps as not very exciting?

And those people all wrote papers/investigated uses of their discoveries.

Fleming didn't go, "I found an odd mould pattern, would you solve why this has happened please?" to another person, no, he took it upon himself to research it and helped save many people as a result.

He had the intelligence to actually use his discovery unlike this person.

I'm sure everyone who's ever had the change to use those molecular models at some point during their schooling has just dicked around making random patterns with them at least once, and the vast majority of those just take apart their models again without thinking about it. She displayed a level of intellectual engagement far beyond expectations just by following up on her idea. Does it make her a genius? No, of course not, but it is promising. I know that if I'd discovered a new theoretical molecule, however accidentally, I'd be psyched to take science more seriously in the future. If that's what she does, then it may lead to her going on to make even more discoveries as an adult that she can take full credit for.

Far beyond expectations? She just asked if her molecule could be real.

Wow, how low do you think of the average person?

Pretty low, but still... I'm willing to bet that the majority of the kids in that class were barely listening; and of the ones that were, even fewer actually cared about making models that were theoretically possible; and again, of the few that did, she was the only one who was curious enough to actually go to her teacher and try to glean a better understanding of the subject matter. She displayed a level of aptitude that surpassed everyone else in her class.

Scienctific discovery is one part knowledge, one part luck, and one part curiosity. Luck can't be taught, knowledge will come in time, and she already has curiosity, which is now only going to be heightened after her apparent success. As it also says in the article, her discovery is now encouraging the rest of the class to try herder as well, so that's good if nothing else.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Spoiler: I imagine the child looking something like this:

I for one welcome our new child underlords.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Don't ever compare her to Beethoven.

Of course not, Beethoven was a hack. This girl's got some talent.

Plus, Beethoven was a real grouch.
Everyone knows little girls are made of sugar, spice and everything nice.

And Chemical X. Now we know what Chemical X really is.

 

[Neonit]

The science teacher is called Boehr?
That's pretty awesome.

Oh yeah, and the explosives. Yay. I'll be interested to see if it has any funny properties.

and here i thought that everyone is going to be so preoccupied with complaining about it being random to not notice that.

im happy to see people like you, it gives me hope.
(slight exaggeration included)

as for my opinion on subject.... i think its absolutely awesome! xD
i wonder how those "sciency people" feel right now.....

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Randomly

Instead of getting hit on the head with an apple, tasting your finger, letting orange go mouldy, serving someone wafer-thin potatoes or any of the other random ways Science is progressed?

Or would you class Gravity, Saccharin, Penicillin, or Crisps as not very exciting?

And those people all wrote papers/investigated uses of their discoveries.

Fleming didn't go, "I found an odd mould pattern, would you solve why this has happened please?" to another person, no, he took it upon himself to research it and helped save many people as a result.

He had the intelligence to actually use his discovery unlike this person.

I'm sure everyone who's ever had the change to use those molecular models at some point during their schooling has just dicked around making random patterns with them at least once, and the vast majority of those just take apart their models again without thinking about it. She displayed a level of intellectual engagement far beyond expectations just by following up on her idea. Does it make her a genius? No, of course not, but it is promising. I know that if I'd discovered a new theoretical molecule, however accidentally, I'd be psyched to take science more seriously in the future. If that's what she does, then it may lead to her going on to make even more discoveries as an adult that she can take full credit for.

Far beyond expectations? She just asked if her molecule could be real.

Wow, how low do you think of the average person?

Pretty low, but still... I'm willing to bet that the majority of the kids in that class were barely listening; and of the ones that were, even fewer actually cared about making models that were theoretically possible; and again, of the few that did, she was the only one who was curious enough to actually go to her teacher and try to glean a better understanding of the subject matter. She displayed a level of aptitude that surpassed everyone else in her class.

Scienctific discovery is one part knowledge, one part luck, and one part curiosity. Luck can't be taught, knowledge will come in time, and she already has curiosity, which is now only going to be heightened after her apparent success. As it also says in the article, her discovery is now encouraging the rest of the class to try herder as well, so that's good if nothing else.

Let's see how long that curiosity lasts...

If I see her in the news again in a few years I'll PM you and admit I was wrong and that she was a prodigy and not someone who had dumb luck and whose teacher did most of the real work ie seeing it's potential.

I'll hold you to that.

 

[samsonguy920]

Regardless if it was on accident or not, who is to say Clara doesn't revisit her discovery after she gets a PhD in Chemistry and discovers something even more awesome out of it?
Dismissing it all because she's 10 is a little pedantic and being closed minded. Her mind already had the motivation to actually follow through and ask her teacher if it was a legit molecule. She also had the good fortune to actually have a teacher who gives a care about his students and what he is teaching.
Far as I am concerned, the first compound made from that molecule should be named after both of them.

 

[Mozza444]

Sure, but if Ethanol didn't form naturally and hadn't been been consumed by humans (albeit unknowingly) since before recorded history, I'd have no problem calling it Mozzanol or..

*checks Profile*

... Joshinal


Excuse me

*goes and vomits in the corner*
I kid, I kid, it's a cool name

Haha, i have no problem if this molecule is named after the kid.
But people are treating this as if she is a child prodigy.
However due to chemistry these days it is named in such ways so that chemists know the structure just by looking at the name.
Eg,
Ethan = 2 Carbon atoms
ol = Alcohol.. or a -OH group

Joshinal would neither indicate presence of 2C atoms or even an alcohol.
However yes things do have two names such as Kevlar (Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide)
And if its named after her.. i'm cool with that.

 

[Scentless Apprentice]

Randomly

Instead of getting hit on the head with an apple, tasting your finger, letting orange go mouldy, serving someone wafer-thin potatoes or any of the other random ways Science is progressed?

Or would you class Gravity, Saccharin, Penicillin, or Crisps as not very exciting?

And those people all wrote papers/investigated uses of their discoveries.

Fleming didn't go, "I found an odd mould pattern, would you solve why this has happened please?" to another person, no, he took it upon himself to research it and helped save many people as a result.

He had the intelligence to actually use his discovery unlike this person.

I'm sure everyone who's ever had the change to use those molecular models at some point during their schooling has just dicked around making random patterns with them at least once, and the vast majority of those just take apart their models again without thinking about it. She displayed a level of intellectual engagement far beyond expectations just by following up on her idea. Does it make her a genius? No, of course not, but it is promising. I know that if I'd discovered a new theoretical molecule, however accidentally, I'd be psyched to take science more seriously in the future. If that's what she does, then it may lead to her going on to make even more discoveries as an adult that she can take full credit for.

Far beyond expectations? She just asked if her molecule could be real.

Wow, how low do you think of the average person?

How high do you think of the average ten year old? Seriously man, I can't figure out what you actually want this girl to have done. She isn't a scientist, she just happened to make a discovery. You're acting like a ten year old girl should have followed up on this. She wouldn't even know where to start. Why should she?

 

[twistedheat15]

*Squirts preperation H all over the thread* My god there's a lot of butt hurt going on in this place.