Editing 3040: Chemical Formulas

{{comic
| number    = 3040
| date      = January 20, 2025
| title     = Chemical Formulas
| image     = chemical_formulas_2x.png
| imagesize = 275x335px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Can you pass the nackle?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BORON-OXYGEN-TANTALUM-URANIUM-TITANIUM-MOLYBDENUM-TITANIUM-CARBON-ALUMINUM-LITHIUM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is another comic on [[:Category:How to annoy|How to annoy]] people, in this case chemists.

In this comic, Cueball humorously mispronounces the chemical names of {{w|carboxylic acid}}s. Instead of pronouncing the individual components of "HCOOH" (for what is technically methanoic acid, or named {{w|formic acid}} from its association with {{w|Formicinae#Identification|ants}}) and "CH₃COOH" (ethanoic acid, also known as {{w|acetic acid}}, most often encountered in vinegar) according to their standard chemical names, he says them phonetically as if they were words, as "hakoo" and "chuckoo," which Randall describes in the caption as "How to annoy chemists". This is similar to Randall's pronunciation guide of equations in [[2492: Commonly Mispronounced Equations]]. In addition, the chemical formula for formic acid includes an unnecessary fifth bond between the carbon atom and OH-group, annoying chemists even further. 

The title text continues this trend to the humor by referencing the phrase "Can you pass the salt?" but, instead of referring to the commonly understood "salt", the speaker uses "nackle", perhaps sarcastically. This is an apparent attempt to pronounce "NaCl", the chemical formula for {{w|sodium chloride}} (the primary constituent of ordinary {{w|table salt}}, as well as {{w|rock salt}}): a compound which is known well enough that it's reasonably recognizable by just the pronunciation and the context, commonly occurs in everyday conversation, yet includes enough letters that it sounds somewhat like its own word (unlike H₂O "hoe" and CO₂ "koe").<!-- As well as being an actual request for the {{w|condiment}} (which is not entirely in context with the comic, though may be linked to the prior interest with vinegar), the request may also be used to rhetorically reinforce a previous statement (having metaphorically 'put it on a plate', one is now fully prepared to 'dine' on it). Alternatively, it could be an expression of ''someone else's'' incredulity, as a variation upon "taking <some dubious detail> with {{w|a grain of salt}}".-->

Incidentally, there ''are'' three Pokémon whose names contain the letters "nacl" pronounced roughly as in the title text, introduced in ''Scarlet and Violet'': [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Nacli_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Nacli], [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Naclstack_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Naclstack], and [https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Garganacl_(Pok%C3%A9mon) Garganacl].

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball is holding a pointer and gesturing towards a whiteboard that shows the chemical formulas HCOOH and CH₃COOH. Below these, respectively, are classic diagramatic representations of formic/methanoic acid [with an apparently accidental doubled bond between the carbon and the hydroxy group] and acetic/ethanoic acid; being, in turn, a single- and double-carbon chain molecule with a double-bonded oxygen (carbonyl group) plus an oxygen-hydrogen (hydroxy) upon one carbon of each, to form the full carboxyl grouping, and hydrogens completing all other expected bonds.]
:Cueball: The two simplest carboxylic acids are hakoo and chuckoo.
:Emphatic off-panel voice: '''''No!!'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How to annoy chemists

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:How to annoy]]