I recall reading this short story (The Catalyst) in school in the mid to late 1960's. It was printed in a monthly Science News type handout used in a grade school science class. I remember the story well and somewhere over the years I ran across it again (probably in a book of science fiction short stories). At the time, I didn't know about Cat's Cradle. Just recently, I read that "heavy water" deuterium, has the similar property, that frozen heavy water sinks rather than floats. My thought is that this special property of heavy water is likely the inspiration for Cat's Cradle and The Catalyst. Note, G.R. Yohe (author of The Catalyst) was a chemist!

I enjoyed the fictional story way back then, it illustrated both the idea of a catalyst AND the importance of water's unique behavior when freezing.

I recall reading this short story (The Catalyst) in school in the mid-to-late 1960's. It was printed in a monthly Science News type handout used in a grade school science class. I remember the story well and somewhere over the years I ran across it again (probably in a book of science fiction short stories). At the time, I didn't know about Cat's Cradle. Just recently, I read that "heavy water" deuterium, has the similar property, that frozen heavy water sinks rather than floats. My thought is that this special property of heavy water is likely the inspiration for Cat's Cradle and The Catalyst. Note, G.R. Yohe (author of The Catalyst) was a chemist!

I enjoyed the fictional story way back then, it illustrated both the idea of a catalyst AND the importance of water's unique behavior when freezing.