10-Year-Old Accidentally Discovers New Explosive Molecule

[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.

 

[Mozza444]

A friggin 10 YEAR OLD discovered a new molecule. Unlike Matthew94, I think that's pretty cool.

No she didn't.
She proposed the structure of a molecule, that with some research showed to be possible.

If she had mixed two chemicals and found that.. i don't know it formed a precipitate lets say.
If she then went on to ask her teacher "What is this" and it turned out to contain an undiscovered molecule then i'll give here the respect you believe she deserves.