Polymerization Memes

The chemistry lab version of "out of sight, out of mind" strikes again! Left your polymerization reaction unattended? No initiator? No problem! The polymer chains aren't going to form themselves, but hey—your weekend plans certainly will. Nothing says "confident chemist" like casually forgetting the catalyst that kickstarts the entire reaction and then pretending it was intentional. Pro tip: next time just tell your professor you were testing the spontaneous polymerization hypothesis. Works 0% of the time, guaranteed!

The professor is showing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) formation, but that reaction mechanism is triggering my fight-or-flight response. Those nucleophilic attacks and leaving groups look suspiciously clean for organic chemistry. No side products? Perfect yields? In what universe? Next they'll claim their columns never streak and their NMR spectra have no impurities. The audacity.

That devious look when you realize you can just keep attaching monomers together FOREVER! 😈 Polymer chemistry in a nutshell: "Why stop at one chemical bond when you could make thousands?" That mad scientist energy of discovering you can create giant molecular chains that give us everything from plastic bags to yoga pants. It's basically chemistry's version of "if building one Lego tower is fun, building one that reaches the moon is BETTER!" And now we're drowning in plastic because some chemist couldn't resist clicking that "do it again" button a few billion times!