Computational chemistry Memes

The eternal computational arms race summed up in four panels! Scientists drool over fancy hardware specs (32 cores! 32GB RAM! 2TB NVMe!) only to use all that power for... visualizing a handful of atoms. The tiny molecular visualization on that monster rig is the computational equivalent of buying a Ferrari to drive to your mailbox. Molecular modeling software like VESTA is notoriously resource-hungry, but this is taking it to another level. Every computational chemist just felt personally attacked.

When computational chemists brag about Density Functional Theory (DFT) using electron density instead of wave functions, only to discover the dirty little secret—the density itself comes from wave functions! The cat's shocked expression perfectly captures that moment of existential crisis when you realize your entire PhD is built on a mathematical ouroboros. It's like claiming you don't eat animals while ordering a burger with extra cheese.

Chemistry grad students bonding over their collective disdain for the HOMO (Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital). Nothing unites a research group faster than complaining about orbital energy calculations at 2 PM after the third failed synthesis of the day. The red-green filter is just what your vision looks like after staring at computational models for 14 straight hours.

The eternal chemistry civil war continues! Physical and computational chemists look at organic synthesis schemes like Gaston looking at Belle's book—completely baffled by the lack of equations. "How can you read this? There's no math!" they scream while clutching their differential equations and quantum models. Meanwhile, organic chemists are happily drawing hexagons and arrows, blissfully unbothered by the absence of calculus. It's like watching someone try to read a novel written in emojis—technically it's the same language, but the dialects couldn't be more different!