National Pride On The Periodic Table

Found dopamine while mindlessly scrolling? That's the ultimate chemical irony. Your brain's reward system is getting a hit from seeing an image of the very molecule responsible for your social media addiction. It's like finding water in the desert, except the water is what made you thirsty in the first place. Next weekend challenge: try finding serotonin by cleaning your lab bench.

The chemistry hierarchy perfectly captured in feline form! General chemistry is the confident cat on the left, comforting organic chemistry (the tired, defeated-looking cat) after another brutal reaction mechanism problem set. Meanwhile, biochemistry (the chaotic white cat in the background) is just vibing in its own bizarre world of metabolic pathways and enzyme kinetics. Every chemistry student knows this progression—from the relatively straightforward general principles to the soul-crushing complexity of organic synthesis, only to discover biochemistry is basically organic chemistry on steroids with extra steps. The silent screaming in organic chem's eyes speaks to generations of students who've battled with chair conformations at 3 AM.

This periodic table "lickability guide" is both hilarious and potentially life-saving! 😂 The color-coding system ranges from "Sure, it's probably fine" (green) to "Please reconsider" (purple), with some elements that are definitely not tongue-friendly. Hydrogen? Lickable! Sodium? You'll literally start a fire in your mouth. Mercury? Hard pass unless you're into neurological damage. Francium would explode on contact with your saliva since it reacts violently with water! Chemistry class suddenly got way more interesting when you realize the periodic table is basically a menu of forbidden snacks. Next lab safety briefing should just be this chart!

What happens when organic chemists get snowed in during winter break? They draw molecular structures that would make your average undergrad cry. This monstrosity is what you'd get if a benzene ring had a midlife crisis and decided to reproduce exponentially. Sure, water molecules form beautiful hexagonal snowflakes in nature, but some chemist thought, "Not complex enough!" and created this phosphorus-nitrogen nightmare that would require its own chapter in a textbook. Good luck synthesizing this in the lab—you'd need three PhDs and a small country's research budget just to get started.

The ozone layer never asked to be part of humanity's chemical experiments. CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) in the 1970s were like that one friend who shows up uninvited and trashes your apartment. These industrial chemicals saw ozone minding its own business in the stratosphere and decided "I'm gonna break that." The shy emoji pointing at itself perfectly captures how CFCs basically volunteered to destroy our planetary sunscreen before scientists realized what was happening. It took a global ban in 1987 to tell these molecules "No, it isn't for you, put that ozone back where it belongs." The stratosphere is still recovering from that toxic relationship.

Just another day where all terrestrial organisms are simping for a simple molecule. H₂O isn't even trying to be attractive - it's just sitting there being polar and essential for biochemical reactions. Meanwhile, every living thing on Earth is prostrating themselves before it like it's the hottest compound at the chemistry prom. Sure, it's the universal solvent and makes up 60% of our bodies, but have some dignity, organisms.