adventures in chemistry!
Sep. 24th, 2021 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettA 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...
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...
(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-24 11:47 pm (UTC)...it's not working so well. >_
(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-25 09:15 am (UTC)Does A like sokoban? There is a chemistry-themed puzzle game called Sokobond.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-25 10:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-25 06:44 pm (UTC)when the nitrogen has a positive formal charge I presume?So far as I know (but then my high school chemistry class was shoddy + it was my own annus horribilis for reasons unrelated to school, so most of my decent chemistry has been at the college/university level) that particular type of dot and cross diagrams doesn't seem to be common in the US.
I'm still not sure why like 3d is filled after/higher energy than 4s, though I assume there's quantum reasons.
(also not recollecting at the moment why graphite is conductive, or for that matter, its structure... :/ )
most of my fellow physics students seem to think it's bizarre of me to want to inflict more chemistry on myself, while most of the chemistry students seem to think it's a strange choice to be in physics and math. (I've heard only one math opinion on chemistry which was that he switched away from chemistry due to organic, but again, that's a sample size of one.) Me? I don't understand actuarial ambitions. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-27 11:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-09-27 11:16 pm (UTC)but why is graphite conductive? (this is an Invitation to Infodump not an Obligation to Explain)