You like flags ? You like chemistry ?

This thread is for you !

It's talk about chemistrymorphism and vexillolo-chemistry



#funwithflags #bigbangtheory #funwithflagandchemistry #chemistry #Sheldon #Amy #Quizz

Enjoy & Share !

1/20

"Sheldon Cooper Presents: Fun With Flags" is a fictional YouTube podcast created by Sheldon/Amy, from The Big Bang Theory show.

The ten episodes aimed to teach vexillology, the study of flags, but they were never related to science while both characters are scientists...

2/20

By the way, this molecule in the background is a DNA double helix molecular model made by IndigoInstruments ( @indigodotcom). You can buy it: https://www.indigoinstruments.com/molecular_models/dna-rna/DNA-Double-Helix-Structure-Model-17-Base-Pairs.html

More information here: https://www.indigoinstruments.com/big-bang-theory-dna-molecular-model.php

#molecularmodel #chemistry

3/20

In chemistry , three-dimensional (3D) molecular model, where the atoms are represented by spheres whose radii are proportional to the radii of the atoms and whose center-to-center distances are proportional to the distances between the atomic nuclei is used in classes

4/20

Atoms of different chemical elements are usually represented by spheres of different colors.

The scheme is named "CPK molecular model" as it was designed by chemists Robert Corey and Linus Pauling in 1952, and improved by Walter Koltun in 1965.

5/20

In 1952, Corey and Pauling published a description of space-filling models. They represented atoms by faceted hardwood balls, painted in different colors to indicate the respective chemical elements.

White for hydrogen
Black for carbon
Sky blue for nitrogen
Red for oxygen

6/20

In 1965 Koltun patented an improved version:

White for hydrogen
Black for carbon
Blue for nitrogen
Red for oxygen
Deep yellow for sulfur
Purple for phosphorus
Light, medium, medium dark, and dark green for the halogens (F, Cl, Br, I)

7/20

Some imaginative professors have tried to connect objects with molecular models in order to create a recreative environment, such as structural chemical formulas with human forms (called NanoPutians)...

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ed080p395

8/20

... or racing car shapes !

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/nl051915k

9/20

In order to relate vexillology with chemistry, and in the following of these chemistrymorphisms, we proposed (with @ChristopheCoud4) to create a quizz game on the recognition of colored atoms looking like real flags .

https://twitter.com/ChristopheCoud4/status/1319226619580551168

10/20

Unfortunately, complex flags are not adaptable with simple molecules (i.e. cross flags or flags with a number of band bigger than 4).

An important number of small molecules (NH3, O2 and OH-) could be used... but we will focused here on band flags only.

11/20

Among the 193 sovereign states flags in the world, the most frequent type is the three-colored flag (40% of flags), followed by two- and four-colored flags (20% each).

Source Flag of the World (the website has its own flag https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ )

12/20

Red is the most widely used color by percentage/surface area/number of flags. The second color in the ranking is not the same by area and by frequency (blue or white).

The colors originally chosen for the CPK model are very similar to the colors present in the flags.

13/20

If we exclude emblems/arms/cross, we have identified 10 perfect matches between country flags and existing molecules !

From top ; left to right:

14/20

From top ; left to right: Gabon ClNS Poland OH- Estonia HCN Spain OSO Russia HNORomania OSN

(Some of them work also fo Monaco, Singapore, Indonesia, Rwanda, Slovakia, Slovenia, Moldavia, Chad or Moldova)

15/20

We also have identified 5 quasi-perfect matches (color number of color order)

From top:

16/20

From top: Belgium OCS Bulgaria HClO Mauritius ClNOS.

(It works also for Germany, Italy, Iran, Hungary or Mexico).

17/20

In this approach, former flag of Belarus (1991-1995) is the molecule of water H2O.

18/20

We also have created fantasy flags for real molecules.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) fantasy country flag

19/20

You can found more details, flags, information in our paper (my first paper with @ChristopheCoud4 ) that have just been published in The Journal of Chemical Education https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00514

20/20 End of thread

- a tribute to Dr. Sheldon Cooper -