Chemistree Memes

Nature's perfect molecular model! This bare tree branch looks exactly like an organic chemistry structure diagram - complete with carbon bonds and functional groups. The kind of coincidence that makes chemistry professors squeal with delight. Next semester's exam question: "Identify this naturally occurring molecule and synthesize it in your backyard." Bonus points if you can determine its IUPAC name before the leaves grow back!

This is what happens when chemistry teachers get into the holiday spirit! The left side shows electron orbital configurations arranged in a Christmas tree shape, complete with those s, p, d, and f subshells branching out like pine needles. But the real gift is on the right—chemical elements spelling out "MERRY CHRISTMAS" using their symbols! Manganese (Mn), Erbium (Er), Rhodium (Rh), Radium (Ra), Yttrium (Y) for "MERRY" and Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), Rhodium (Rh), Iodine (I), Sulfur (S), Thulium (Tm), Arsenic (As) for "CHRISTMAS." The little lab equipment at the bottom is basically the chemistry equivalent of a tree stand. Whoever made this deserves extra credit and probably has students who actually look forward to the periodic table quiz!

The only time you'll see chemists willingly decorate for the holidays. Nothing says "festive spirit" like hanging colorful, potentially hazardous solutions on a ring stand and calling it a Christmas tree. That "snow" is probably dry ice pellets or silica beads—definitely not something you'd want to eat with hot cocoa. The real miracle here isn't the birth of Christ but that nobody's accidentally created a new compound by mixing those flasks. Grad students will spend 80 hours a week in lab but still find time for this instead of publishing their papers. Priorities!