Years ago I read a story of a chemistry lecturer who set a student a
tutorial problem to show that a noble gas compound was thermodynamically
unstable. The story goes that the student did the exercise, but got the
result that the compound should be thermodynamically stable. When the
lecturer could not find any error in the calculation, he set about
synthesising the compound.
I cannot find reference to this story now. Does anyone else know this
story, and if so, what the source was?
Best wishes
Keith
--
Dr. Keith S. Taber
Chair: Science, Technology & Mathematics Education Academic Group
University Reader in Science Education
University of Cambridge Faculty of Education