Nothing stuck to Mafia boss John Gotti

who evaded justice for years by bribing
and threatening jurors and witnesses.

That earned him the name
the Teflon Don

after one of the slipperiest 
materials on Earth.

Teflon was in the spacesuits the Apollo
crew wore for the moon landing,

in pipes and valves used 
in the Manhattan Project,

and maybe in your kitchen as the nonstick
coating on frying pans and cookie sheets.

So what is this slippery solid,
and why doesn't anything stick to it?

Teflon is a brand name for
polytetrafluoroethylene,

or PTFE.

It was stumbled upon accidentally in 1938
by a 27-year-old American chemist

named Roy Plunkett

while he was trying to develop 
a non-toxic refrigerant fluid for DuPont,

a chemicals company.

The strange, white substance that formed
inside his lab canister

was chemically inert,

meaning it wouldn't react 
with other substances.

It also had an extremely 
low coefficient of friction,

making other materials slide right off it.

Teflon's properties make it perfect
when you need something slippery,

chemical resistant,

or waterproof,

which means it has a lot of applications.

It can be found all over the place,

as a coating on raincoats,

industrial ball bearings,

artificial joints,

circuit boards,

and even the Rocky Mountains-themed roof
of the Denver International Airport.

The incredible properties of PTFE
come from its molecular structure.

It's a polymer,

meaning it's made of long chains of
repeating units of atoms strung together.

A PTFE chain has a backbone 
of carbon atoms,

each of which is attached 
to two fluorines.

The fluorine atoms surround the carbon
like armor,

spiraling around the chain,

and the bond between carbon and fluorine
is incredibly tight.

Like a couple that ignores everyone
except each other,

carbon and fluorine interact so strongly

that the normal, intermolecular forces
that help substances stick to each other

don't stand a chance.

Even the famously adhesive feet of geckos
usually can't get a grip.

But wait!

If PTFE doesn't stick to anything,

how can it be so firmly attached
to something like a pan?

One method involves sandblasting the pan

or etching it with chemicals 
to make it rough.

Then, a special primer is applied,
which acts like glue.

Its exact composition is a trade secret
guarded by each manufacturer.

The pan is sprayed with liquid PTFE

and heated to around 
800 degrees Fahrenheit.

The layers then solidify into
a smooth, slick coating.

When you later cook eggs
in this PTFE-coated pan,

the extra tight carbon-fluorine bonds

just ignore the water and fat and protein
molecules in the eggs.

Without those interactions,

the food just slides around 
without sticking.

You might wonder if it's safe to cook
in a PTFE-coated pan.

The answer is yes, if you're careful.

PTFE is stable at moderate temperatures,
like you'd use to cook eggs or fish,

but above 500 degrees Fahrenheit,
it starts to degrade,

and heating it further releases fumes
that can make you feel sick.

An empty pan can reach 500 degrees fast
over high heat,

but most kitchens are ventilated 
well enough to dissipate the fumes.

People used to also think 
that accidentally consuming PTFE

that flaked off a scratched pan
was bad for you,

but the current consensus 
is that it's harmless.

Because PTFE doesn't interact with other
chemicals very well,

it isn't thought to break down
inside your body.

Whether it's safe to manufacture Teflon
is another story.

DuPont and its spin-off company Chemours

now face lawsuits 
worth millions of dollars.

They've been accused of polluting
the environment for decades

and exposing employees 
and local communities

to health risks associated 
with a toxic chemical called PFOA.

That chemical was involved
in manufacturing Teflon.

As for John Gotti,

in 1992, the Mob boss was finally 
convicted of five counts of murder,

among other charges.

That prompted the head of the FBI office
in New York City to announce,

"The Teflon is gone.

The don is covered in Velcro,
and all the charges stuck."