A pie-chart titled "Things I learned in organic chemistry", showing the following four legends: Blue: "Interesting compounds", black: "The secrets of the universe", green: "powerful reactions", and pink: "How to draw hexgons". The pie chart ironically contains only pink hinting that the author only learned how to draw hexagons from organic chemistry.

My earliest memory of chemistry is excitement quickly turning into confusion. As an innocent student, I wanted to learn all about the subject.

My father told me that he had graduated in chemistry, which instilled a natural fascination for the subject in me.

When the time was ripe for me, my parents got me the colourful, cartoonish chemistry textbook a whole month before school started and I remember scrolling through it with eagerness and curiosity.

Fast forward a few months and almost all of this curiosity was gone and was engulfed by confusion and disappointment. Why did this happen? And what has changed now?

Let me start with the origin story first.

Physics Vs. Chemistry — The Fundamental Difference

Within a few days after we were introduced to the 4 new science subjects: botany, zoology, physics, and chemistry, students quickly categorised botany and zoology as sister subjects and physics and chemistry as sister subjects.

Going in, I did not have much expectation for physics. But surprisingly, I just “got it”. The pictures made sense; I could follow the logic and flow of the concepts. Everything just “clicked”!

Over at chemistry-land, though, things looked different. The fundamentals overlapped with physics, and I had an easy time with them. But beyond that, things started to get grim.

I could not understand the logic, if there was any. Almost nothing made sense. Why do the protons and electrons behave the way they do? Why do they exist? And why do (chemical) reactions take place in the first place?

So many questions, and so few answers.

Where It All Went Wrong!

If I had to point out one area where my hate for chemistry started, it has to be understanding reactions. No matter how much I struggled, I could not understand why and how they occurred.

Without understanding the rhyme or reason, I was not able to predict how reactions between different elements would occur. Without being able to predict reactions, the essence of chemistry was lost to me.

I approached my father for help, expecting great things. But he said that chemistry “just works that way”. He suggested that I memorise the basic reactions until I eventually “get it”.

This is indeed what I did. But needless to say, this was a bad strategy. A few more months in, it felt as if I had missed the bus for chemistry, and I had to play catch-up for a long, long time.

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It was much later in my eleventh grade that I finally said enough was enough and decided that I could live life without chemistry. I remember it so clearly even today.

I simply decided that I did not wish to do anything related to chemistry from that point on in my life. Going forward, I would just do the bare minimum to pass chemistry whenever I had to deal with it.

So, with this much baggage and pent-up hate for the subject, how could things possibly change now? And I assure you, they have!

Chemistry’s Redemption Arc

I was recently reading one of Brian Greene’s works, and I just happened to come across a section where he explains the fundamentals of chemistry in simple words (as a precursor for something more complicated).

This time around, I could follow the logic; it just “clicked”. For a long time, I feared that there was no logic to understanding chemistry.

But I was not only surprised to know that there is indeed logic, but I am also happy to report that I am starting to develop an affinity for the subject!

Now, you might be wondering what and how a few simple words could do to save the train wreck of a relationship that I have had with chemistry over the years.

So, why don’t I share a few things that I learned that have changed my perspective on the subject?

Why Do Chemical Reactions Occur?

Nature has a thing for stability. It tries to maintain a state of equilibrium. To this end, any elemental atom we observe in our surroundings is either in a stable state or is striving to achieve a stable state.

What is it that differentiates more stable atoms from those that are less stable?

Well, it is their electron counts. To be more elaborate, elements in nature have a central nucleus and layers of electrons surrounding it. Now, each of these outer layers has a particular limit for the total number of electrons it can accommodate.

For instance, the first layer can accommodate a maximum of 2 electrons, the second layer a maximum of 8 electrons, and so on.

A stable helium atom on the left with 2 electrons in the first level. A stable Neon atom on the right with 2 electrons in the first level and 8 electrons in the second level. An unstable hydrogen atom below at the centre with just one electron in the first level.
Stable Vs. unstable atoms — Illustration created by the author

For an atom of a given element, whenever any of the layers is filled up to its capacity or is completely empty, it leads to stability. But as soon as at least one electron layer is partially filled, it leads to instability.

What do unstable elements do?

A stable methane compound with one carbon atom and 4 hydrogen atoms. Each hydrogen atom shares one of four of the carbon atom’s electrons. By sharing, they bond to form a stable methane molecule.
Stable compound — Illustration created by the author

That is simple; they seek stability. The achieve this by trading/sharing electrons with atoms from other species. Multiple unstable atoms can bond by sharing electron(s) to form a stable “compound”. The process by which they achieve this is called a “chemical reaction”.

And just like that, it starts “clicking”!

Where Does the Journey Go from Here?

The more I look at chemistry this way, the more it resembles physics. The truth is that it does not matter.

Science is science, and it does not matter which path you pursue to understand its ways.

Part of me wishes that I could have had this starting point with chemistry back when I was a curious child. But at the same time, if I had the chance to change anything, I would probably change nothing.

A pie-chart titled “Things I learned in organic chemistry”, showing the following four legends: Blue: “Interesting compounds”, black: “The secrets of the universe”, green: “powerful reactions”, and pink: “How to draw hexgons”. The pie chart ironically contains only pink hinting that the author only learned how to draw hexagons from organic chemistry.
Things I learned in organic chemistry — Illustrative art created by the author

I had a bad first outing with chemistry and I am perfectly fine with that. I would not be the person I am today without having taken the path that I have.

The most important thing for me is that I pursue this new-found affinity for chemistry and continue learning what I missed all those years ago.

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