Reporter: Yamilkal Hernandez Sanchez

The colour ‘mauve’

Back in 1856, there was no cheap way to manufacture purple dye. It was by accident that chemist William Perkin discovered a new colour (mauve) when he was cleaning up after a messy experiment. Queen Victoria brought mauve into popularity when she wore a dress of that colour.

Reporter: Fatoumata Baba Jarjusey

Non-stick pans, inhalers, white paint, antifreeze, heat packs and digital cameras are all common items which have come into being thanks to the efforts and ‘accidents’ of chemists.

Reporter: Vaibhav Iyer

Petrol engine

Engines need power to operate. In 1870, Austrian scientist Siegfried Marcus got the idea to use petrol as a fuel to make an engine run – an early version of a motor vehicle.

Matches

A match tip is a mixture of substances that catch fire when rubbed against a rough surface. Englishman John Walker invented the first safety matches in 1827.

Batteries

Inside a battery are two different metals in a liquid which make an electric charge flow by reacting with each other. Italian Alessandro Volta performed some of the earliest experiments with batteries in 1791.