When fifth-grader Clara Lazen strung together the model oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon atom building blocks her teacher had given her to tinker with in Chemistry class, she may not have expected the 'explosive' results of her actions.
Following the basic chemistry rules given by her teacher, Lazen actually managed to build an entirely new molecular structure, never seen before.
Asking her teacher Kenneth Boehr whether she'd created a viable stable molecule, Lazen was happy to discover that her work had not only impressed Boehr, but also a senior Chemistry professor at Humbolt State University who wasted no time in writing an academic paper on her discovery.
Professor Robert Zoellner discovered that Lazen's molecule was not just theoretically possible, but could actually be synthetically created, with the dense structure allowing for the potential to store large amounts of energy that could be used either to create some sort of battery, or even a sizable explosion.
You can see a video of Lazen and her amazing story here:
