Penicillin, Slinky, Post-it Notes, Silly Putty. Accidental discoveries, all. Now we can add Frederic Mikulec's unexpected find to this illustrious list.

A postdoctoral researcher in chemistry at UC San Diego, Mikulec was trying to cleave a silicon wafer with a diamond scribe when the unforeseen occurred. The chip blew up in his face.

Michael Sailor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry leading the research project, likened the explosion to that of a cap gun. Still, the event startled everyone. Sailor and his team had coated the wafer with gadolinium nitrate, a common salt compound closely related to the potassium nitrate used in gunpowder. The compound produced a clean-burning flame.

The silicon is actually fine nanocrystals with a high surface area that burns rapidly. Chemically pure, the combined gadolinium and silicon ultimately could perform fast chemical fields tests of toxic metals and other elements, Sailor believes. Because it requires only a small voltage, the baby bang might also propel minuscule rocket engines attached to MEMS devices or create self-destructing data collectors for military use. Conventional silicon fabrication methods can be used.

A paper featuring these applications appears in the January issue of the German journal, Advanced Materials. It's safe to say they come closer in import to Alexander Fleming's serendipitous mold discovery than Richard James's "aha" moment with a torsion spring.