Editing 2648: Chemicals

{{comic
| number    = 2648
| date      = July 20, 2022
| title     = Chemicals
| image     = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions to [[Cueball]] that their company spends a lot on chemicals for which you can find formulas online. She suggests assembling chemicals from atoms "bought in bulk," holding a sheet of paper with the {{w|empirical formula}} C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>5</sub>NO<sub>2</sub>, which designates [https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=C6H5NO2 hundreds of compounds] including {{w|nitrobenzene}}, {{w|niacin}}, {{w|isonicotinic acid}}, and {{w|picolinic acid}}, followed by their component elements listed with quantities and prices. The ambiguity of chemical formulae is one of the jokes in the comic.

While many expensive chemicals are composed of inexpensive and easily available elements, "assembling" those elements into specific molecules is rarely as simple as Megan implies. That work is the primary purpose of the global chemical industry. In-house {{w|chemical synthesis}} is usually not cost effective, because end users have limited time and are generally unable to leverage the {{w|economies of scale}} inherent in bulk manufacturing by specialist industrial firms.[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2880393/] They are also not able to benefit from synergies by simultaneous synthesizing different compounds. However, we don't know whether Megan and Cueball work in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIHxPc7EpP8 laboratory,] factory, or some other industrial setting. If they need chemicals in bulk, or only very small quantities, synthesizing them might be cost effective. In any case, producing chemicals from their constituent elements, or — as is far more common — {{w|Precursor (chemistry)|precursor compound}}s, is difficult and time-consuming, usually requires expensive equipment, and is often fraught with peril.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QwW2owNWgc] It's conceivable that this could change as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology develop, but it is a far fetch given the relative ease of synthesizing chemicals from other chemicals. {{w|Nitrobenzene}}, one of the C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>5</sub>NO<sub>2</sub> compounds, is an excellent example because it is explosive and extremely toxic, and its synthesis is highly exothermic, making it one of the most dangerous syntheses in the chemical industry.[https://www.icheme.org/media/10339/xiii-paper-36.pdf] Such issues answer Cueball's question as to why more places don't manufacture their own compounds from atoms. Megan seems to be imagining synthesis as a much simpler process without reactivity, energy release, or hazardous intermediate substances. The characters' naivety also gives rise to the humor of the comic.

"Big Molecule" is an [[2130: Industry Nicknames|industry nickname like Big Oil or Big Pharma]], amusing in its own right, and conceivably implying that the chemical industry is conspiring to prevent end users from synthesizing their own compounds. Big Oil and Big Pharma are real industrial nicknames, referring to large industries run by a relatively small number of massive and hugely profitable companies.  These companies are sufficiently wealthy and influential that they exert significant control over the marketplace, and even over government policy. Consequently, many consumers believe that their influence allows them to price products unfairly and prevent competition. "Big Molecule," on the other hand, is not a common term.  It could be used to refer to the global chemical industry, but that industry is neither seen as being excessively powerful, nor does it impact consumers as visibly, and so doesn't merit a similar nickname.  ''Literal'' big molecules tend to be more difficult to synthesize than little ones, with the difficulty increasing more rapidly than the size.  Some big molecules such as synthetic DNA are constructed chainwise from sub-units, and in these cases the difficulty is (approximately) linear with size.

Megan is holding a note listing how many of the four types of atoms she needs to build one molecule of the compound she wants to assemble. The paper seems to list prices for buying 6 carbon, 5 hydrogen, 1 nitrogen and 2 oxygen atoms, although the units aren't specified and the very small prices are illegible. At the bottom is a sum showing she needs 14 total, again with an illegible price. She is suggesting buying atoms in bulk, which should be even cheaper than buying them individually. However, this is another layer of humor, as you can neither buy individual atoms or get a price for them, showing her lack of understanding of chemistry. An actual {{w|bill of materials}} for a chemical compound synthesis from constituent elements alone would list the elements converting their number of atoms to {{w|Mole (unit)|mole}}s, then [https://www.omnicalculator.com/chemistry/mole to mass] for solids and some fluids or to volume at the available pressure and temperature for other fluids, and then to the purchase price, which would usually need to be rounded up to match the next largest size available from suppliers. Also {{w|reagent}}s are usually necessary for syntheses, e.g., {{w|reactant}}s, {{w|solvent}}s, {{w|Buffer solution|buffers}} and {{w|catalyst}}s such as {{w|enzyme}}s. These can cost more than the compounds' constituents but are sometimes recoverable for reuse, though that may require using additional reagents. In many cases, the cost of the elements would be more than the cost of the compound.  For example, purchasing hydrogen and oxygen from which to make water would cost more than water costs.

The title text refers to the fact that older people often complain that "kids these days" don't know how to do things that seemed fundamental to past generations. Randall may have expressed that he dislikes other statements like these in [[2165: Millennials|previous comics]]. It may also refer to the decline of home {{w|chemistry set}}s popular from the late 1700s through the early 1980s that encouraged kids to experiment with basic chemical reactions like generating esters or polymers, or the even older decline in home manufacture of gunpowder as was common in the 1800s. Chemical engineering was more widely practiced during the development of plastics, but far fewer people understand how they are made today. Similarly with automobiles, domesticated crops, and many other technologies that progressed through a period of popular attention but became siloed into industries, corporations, governments, or branches of academia. This is happening now with some software, circuitry, and other technologies, where fewer people know how to build and troubleshoot complex devices and systems. Technology users thus lose their ability to build and repair machines and modify their tools themselves, having to rely on paid services instead. Similar to the makerspace movement, community chemical labs have occasionally been cropping up, where people work together to perform citizen science, including occasional chemical synthesis, by sharing community resources; however, {{w|biohacking}} and structural manufacturing are far more common.

This comic may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in individual molecules] by modifying their bonds.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Zoom in on Megan who is holding piece of paper up in one hand. The paper has a large chemical formula at the top. Below is a list of the atoms needed, with amount and a price tag in dollars but with unreadable amount. There is a s um total at the bottom beneath a line.]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here! 
:Paper:
::<big>C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>5</sub>NO<sub>2</sub></big>
::Carbon 6 $...
::Hydrogen 5 $...
::Nitrogen 1 $...
::<u>Oxygen 2 $...</u>
::Total 14 $...

:[Cueball is now on the left of Megan as she is walking past him to the right holding her arms outstretched with her palms up.]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Kids]]