Questão 28971
UEFS
On the long list of happy accidents in science, some discoveries prove to be more monumental than others. Stephanie Kwolek’s was one of them. In the mid-1960s, Kwolek, who died June 18 at 90, was working at DuPont—a rare exception in the male-dominated world of chemistry—looking for a new synthetic fiber to use in tires. As she toiled in the lab, she noticed that one mixture of a polymer and a solvent looked different from the rest. Instead of assuming she’d 5 made a mistake, she was curious and followed up on her observation. When her formula was spun into fiber, it proved to be five times as strong as steel. DuPont called it Kevlar.
Kevlar is famous for its protective powers, and thanks to its application in bulletproof vests and body armor (helmets, ballistic facemasks, etc), it has saved countless lives. But that’s not the only reason it landed Kwolek in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The Kevlar gloves Kwolek wears in the photo above, for example, help workers avoid cuts. Kevlar 10 has also been used to strengthen items from boats and baseball bats to shoelaces and cell phones. And in a nice full-circle twist, it’s used in tires too.
The reason why the products on the left benefit from Kevlar is correctly stated in alternative
cookware – Teflon has proved to be worse.
oven mitts – Kevlar lets the heat reach your hands.
boats – the Kevlar fiber is heavier than traditional materials.
wind turbines – Kevlar is more suitable for building lighter blades.
tennis rackets – strings made with Kevlar become more stretchable.
Gabarito:
wind turbines – Kevlar is more suitable for building lighter blades.
Resolução: