Thanks To Teflon, We Have Non-Stick Pans
Nowadays, using a regular pan to cook our eggs or fry vegetables proves frustrating. The oil never seems to do the trick and food ends up burnt and charred. That’s where non-stick pans come in. In 1938, Roy J. Plunkett made an accidental discovery while working with gases related to refrigerants, tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) gas specifically.
He checked a frozen, compressed sample of tetrafluoroethylene. It spontaneously polymerized into a waxy solid that formed polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). He conducted some tests on it and found it was heat resistant, had low surface friction, and was immobile to corrosive acids. It was ideal for cookware, which is how the non-stick pan was born. Thanks to Plunkett, we can have fried eggs without them sticking (Teflon).