adventures in chemistry!

A couple of weeks ago, A took me into central London. We packed everything still in my desk at work into a couple of bags, and then we went to the zoo.

I have now got around to taking... most... of the Stuff out of said bags, and once again am wailing and gnashing my teeth about Needing More Shelf Space even after I dumped a good kilo or two of paper in the recycling. One of the things I did manage to tidy away, though (for some value of "tidy") is my molymod set. I tucked it under the monitor stand on my half of the desk in the study and wandered off...

... and a little while later wandered back to find that A had at some point, presumably in some meeting or other, Helped Himself To It and started building molecules.

Which is to say: I considered inviting him to play with it but decided that he'd probably get to it regardless so didn't bother making it explicit, and now I get to explain organic chemistry to him. Like: why do the nitrogens have options for four bonds? So, obviously, I've now talked him through the Bohr model (which was revision) and dot and cross diagrams (which weren't) and what orbitals as in electron probability densities look like and Why The Periodic Table Is Like That (feat. printing one out and cutting it up) and, briefly, at the end of this evening's infodumping, Why Graphite Is Electrically Conductive.

I am having great fun. And I am only slightly considering finally shelling out for the molymod orbitals kit...