From: peter@tsto.co.uk   
      
   On 15/11/2024 13:20, Jim Wilkins wrote:   
   > Chemistry is   
   > too complex for simple explanations. My 4 year degree in it qualified me   
   > only to understand further education which the Vietnam draft prevented,   
   > though the knowledge of matter, energy and quantum mechanics gave me a   
   > boost into other fields like semiconductor physics.   
      
   I dunno. I only did a three year (Hons) degree ;) Can do some quantum   
   stuff, and pde's, sometimes, but failed conic sections till years later.   
   Perhaps because they have little to do with chemistry. i digress.   
      
   If you keep it to atoms made of nuclei and electrons, without going into   
   the quantum physics but with a little electron cloud handwavium, it can   
   be fairly understandable. But often l o o o o n n g, especially if you   
   include reaction mechanisms.   
      
   One of my favourites is when in  a house to describe the rooms as   
   electron clouds of atoms, each with one nucleus - just barely visible to   
   scale - in each room.   
      
   But even if you do get it all in there, and get it understandable (and   
   correct, of course), does it help the average citizen or even   
   tekki-sheddi? Possibly not. So it squirms back into the murk of   
   knowledge which is never going to be used.   
      
   Or gets relegated to Google storage - keep the outline, search for   
   details if/when needed. Especially in chemistry where there are over a   
   billion entries in the Beilstein/Gmelin/Reaxys database...   
      
   In places like this I try to curate for a curious intelligent person,   
   with a smattering of science, to feel that I answered a question or they   
   learned something, hopefully light enough to float in the murk... or an   
   outline worth remembering.   
      
   Peter Fairbrother   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)