What Did The Carbon Say To The Other Carbon?

The pandemic really humbled the physics community! While biologists and chemists were front and center battling COVID-19, developing vaccines and treatments, physicists were suddenly... not the heroes of the scientific narrative. For decades, physicists dominated scientific discourse with their grand unified theories and particle accelerators, often looking down on "softer" sciences. Then COVID hit, and suddenly those biochemistry classes everyone skipped became pretty darn important. Nothing like a global pandemic to make you realize that understanding proteins might be slightly more urgent than string theory. The physicists' collective "perhaps I treated you too harshly" is basically science's version of "sorry I was a jerk in high school, you're actually cool now."

The chemical desperation is real! Instead of writing the correct chemical formula for sodium formate (HCOONa), this poor student just wrote "Matata" after "HCOON:a" - creating the iconic "Hakuna Matata" phrase from Lion King. When balancing equations becomes impossible, sometimes you just need a problem-free philosophy! Chemistry students everywhere are feeling this in their periodic table of emotions. No worries for the rest of your grade though...

Carbon's split personality disorder is on full display here! 😂 Diamond's crystal structure has buff doge characters locked in a rigid 3D tetrahedral arrangement - strong, inflexible, and ready to cut glass. Meanwhile, graphite is the same carbon atoms but as weak doge characters in flat sheets that slide past each other like they're on ice! Same element, completely different properties - just because of how the atoms are arranged. That's why diamonds are forever, but your pencil leaves marks on paper. Chemistry's version of hitting the gym vs. staying on the couch!

The electron's ultimate betrayal! In the top panel, our little electron friend is reaching eagerly for oxygen, forming a nice covalent bond. But then fluorine shows up with its superior electronegativity and the electron can't resist - it's like watching your date abandon you for someone with a better credit score. That sweating electron knows exactly what it's doing - fluorine's electronegativity of 4.0 beats oxygen's measly 3.5 on the Pauling scale. It's basically the chemical equivalent of your friend ditching you for the cooler kid at the party. The title "Press O To Pay Respects" brilliantly references gaming culture while mourning oxygen's loss in this electron custody battle.

Chemistry wordplay at its finest! Formaldehyde is that pungent chemical used to preserve specimens (and nightmares from biology class). The joke brilliantly plays on "formal" vs "casual" and sneaks in a Jekyll/Hyde reference because, let's face it, chemicals have personalities too. Next time you're at a chemistry party (yes, they exist and they're exactly as wild as you imagine), drop this gem and watch as everyone simultaneously groans and updates their periodic table of puns.

The textbook definition of the scientific method: observe, hypothesize, experiment, analyze, conclude. The actual scientific method: chaotic experimentation until something interesting happens! Every breakthrough discovery in history started with someone thinking "what if I just try this random thing?" Newton didn't plan to revolutionize physics—he was just vibing under an apple tree. Fleming discovered penicillin because he was too lazy to clean his petri dishes. Behind every polished journal publication is a scientist who spent months frantically mixing chemicals and muttering "why isn't this working?!" before stumbling onto something brilliant by accident. It's basically organized chaos with better documentation.