Alkanes Memes

Chemistry students worldwide have a secret confession: Bing search is our guilty pleasure for organic chemistry! 😂 The eternal struggle between alkanes (boring single bonds) and alkenes (spicy double bonds) haunts our dreams. Google might know everything else, but when it comes to telling your σ-bonds from your π-bonds at 2AM before the exam, Bing's straightforward chemistry explanations suddenly become the unexpected hero! Even the most loyal Google fans will silently open that Bing tab when it's hydrocarbon homework time!

The perfect crossover between organic chemistry and Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't exi— oh wait, here it is! Converting an alkane to an alkene literally removes a "bend" in the molecule by creating a double bond that forces carbon atoms into a rigid, straight alignment. So yes, you quite literally took away its bending. Chemistry students everywhere just snorted coffee through their noses while their non-STEM friends wonder why they're giggling at molecular structures again.

Started organic chemistry thinking it would be simple alkanes. By week 3, you're staring at polycyclic nightmares that look like they were designed by a drunk spider. The progression from "this is a line" to "name this eldritch horror or perish" perfectly captures the psychological warfare that is organic nomenclature. Students frantically flipping through textbooks at 3 AM know - benzene rings are watching. Always watching.

Behold, the perfect visual representation of carbon bonds that haunts organic chemistry students everywhere! The top fence with single posts represents alkanes (single bonds), the middle fence with double posts shows alkenes (double bonds), and the bottom fence with triple posts illustrates alkynes (triple bonds). This is what happens when chemists design fences instead of molecules. Twenty years of teaching and I've never seen hydrocarbon bonding explained so perfectly by accident. My students still can't remember this after three exams, but they'll never forget it after seeing a random fence.

Chemistry's greatest prank strikes again! The meme warns us not to Google "3,3-diethylpentane" while showing a character who clearly regrets his curiosity. Here's the sneaky science joke: this molecule's structural formula looks exactly like... well... a certain male anatomical part when drawn out! Organic chemistry professors worldwide probably giggle every time they assign this compound. It's the perfect example of how nature sometimes has an absolutely filthy sense of humor. Chemistry textbooks never mention this particular visual similarity - you just have to draw it out yourself to get the full experience!

The perfect visual representation of carbon-carbon bonds! The top fence (alkane) shows a single rail—just like those boring single bonds between carbon atoms. The middle fence (alkene) has two rails, representing the double bond that makes organic chemistry slightly more interesting. And the bottom fence (alkyne) flaunts three rails, just like the triple bond that makes chemists go "ooooh." Chemistry professors probably have this printed and framed in their offices right next to their periodic table shower curtains.

Behold the most honest molecular diagram in chemistry history! What appears to be a simple zigzag of carbon atoms is hilariously labeled with every single hydrogen and covalent bond, turning a basic alkane into an overwhelming explosion of labels. It's like someone's professor said "label EVERYTHING" and they took it way too literally. The molecular equivalent of explaining a joke until it dies. Chemistry students everywhere are having flashbacks to that one classmate who would ask "will this be on the test?" about every single atom.

This meme is a brilliant play on chemical notation using political satire! It shows the progression of chemical bonds (single, double, triple) between atoms, but replaces the atoms with faces and uses a wordplay on "Putin" that mimics the naming convention of hydrocarbons. In chemistry, alkanes with single bonds are named with "-an" (like ethane), alkenes with double bonds use "-en" (like ethene), and alkynes with triple bonds use "-in" (like ethyne). The meme cleverly transforms "Putin" into "Putan" (single bond), "Puten" (double bond), and "Putin" (triple bond)! The title "Old But Au" is itself a chemistry pun - Au being the chemical symbol for gold, suggesting this joke is an oldie but a goldie. Nerdy chemical nomenclature has never been so politically charged!