Shorthand Memes

The sophisticated bear knows what's up! In the top panel, we see ethane (C₂H₆) with its full structural formula showing all carbon-hydrogen bonds like some kind of chemical peasant. But the bottom panel? Just a single line representing the C-C bond. That's the elegant shorthand notation chemists actually use - where carbon atoms are implied at the ends and hydrogens aren't even drawn. It's like going from writing out "electronic mail correspondence" to just saying "email." The fancy tuxedo Pooh perfectly captures that feeling when you level up from intro chem to organic chemistry and suddenly realize you can draw entire molecules in seconds instead of painstakingly adding every single hydrogen atom like some kind of first-year student.

Chemistry students evolving from drawing methane as a structural formula (boring), to writing CH₄ (efficient), to using MeH (galaxy brain), to just telepathically communicating the concept of methane (transcendent). The progression perfectly captures how chemists develop increasingly pretentious shorthand until they're just waving vaguely at molecular models during presentations. Meanwhile, organic chemistry professors still mark you wrong if you don't draw every single hydrogen atom.