The 7 Levels of Chemistry

Everything around you is made of molecules which are made of atoms which are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons. The number of protons in an atom tells us what element of the periodic table it is. In primary school, when we had just one chemistry lesson per month, remember one time spending the entire lesson just building papier-mâché volcano only to fill it with baking soda and vinegar to see an explosion. This was back when chemistry lessons were actually cool and not just one big long memory test. Level two, middle school. Here you learn that these baking soda and vinegar volcanoes you made in primary school actually had purpose. Showing you what reaction looks like. And now the experiments you do in school are even more cool, like lighting magnesium on fire or putting potassium into water. You're still using the periodic table, only this time you actually know how to use it. This top number is the number of protons in the element, and this bottom number is the number of protons plus neutrons in the element. If something is acidic, it will release more hydrogen ions when put into water, which is why when eating something like lemon, which contains citric acid, it tastes sour. We're actually just tasting the hydrogen ions that are released when the citric acid reacts with the water on our tongue. So, if you theoretically drunk hydrochloric acid, then before your mouth and teeth literally corrode away for brief moment, it would taste extremely sour. Level three, high school. The most annoying topic in chemistry is electrolysis. Electrolysis is what happens when you connect direct current to an electrolyte solution. And positive anode attracts negative annions and negative cathode attracts positive cations. Good luck remembering that. You'll also learn that alcohol isn't just the vehicle driving your parents' divorce, but actually there are more uses for these molecules due to their unique chemical properties. Level four, watch Breaking Bad once. You've seen too many episodes of Walter White scribbling symbols onto whiteboard before engaging in illegal activity, so you decided to study chemistry. You thought that if you can't make good enough living doing pharmacy, you'll just switch over to street pharmacy. Quickly, you'll learn that what you signed up for is actually lot less exciting. Remember how in level two we learned that electrons orbit around nucleus in shells? Well, that was actually lie. They actually live in cloudy probabilistic zones called SPD and orbitals. Level five, chemistry degree. You now learn that orbitals can combine into either bonding or anti-bonding orbitals. Meaning that electrons can either hold atoms together or actively sabotage the relationship. This is also when you stop thinking that acids are just sour stuff and you learn that there are actually different definitions of acids. Like for example, Louis acids are electron pair acptors and Lewis bases are donuts. You can also use molecular orbital theory to explain why something like O2 is stable, but O22 minus is unstable, much like your mental health. Level six, can't remember the last time you saw the sun. Now, chemistry isn't just about remembering things. It's about finding things out that nobody else knows yet. You could be working on breaking down pollutants, improving climate models, testing water quality, or creating nanotech materials. Finally, you're doing chemistry with realworld applications. And for the entire time, you'll be just one missed coffee away from literally becoming the next Ted Kazinski. You're now world-renowned chemist who just goes around inventing new chemistry and winning Nobel prizes all day. Although playing around with strange chemicals all day will likely leave you with an incredibly rare and incurable disease, before you get the chance to retire, you'll likely die from it. For example, Marie Cury died from alastic anemia because radiation knocked an electron out of her bone marrow, permanently inhibiting her ability to produce blood cells. If you want to stop radiation, thereby prolonging your ability to produce blood cells, hit the join button below. Or alternatively, you can just like and subscribe. Or you can click this video if you want to see more. All right, now piss off.