My Chemical Reaction

When I was eight, I wanted to be a chemist. Knowing this, a classmate gave me a chemistry kit for my birthday, and I made perfume with it, feeling intelligent in my cheap plastic goggles while holding a test tube above a flame. I used those goggles to dress up for career day and show my classmates what happens when baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) combine. Their awe fueled my dreams of concocting potions in a mad-scientist laboratory.

But my career aspirations were as fickle as that temporary reaction. It’s a multi-step reaction, meaning several steps happen so quickly that they seem to be one step. In the same way, several things combined to halt my career progress even while I fiddled with test tubes and practiced science with a mad-scientist themed computer game called Widget Workshop (shout out to the fun CD-ROM games of the 90s).

When sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and acetic acid (CH3COOH) combine, they form unstable carbonic acid (H2CO3), the acid that gives soda that pleasant zing. Carbonic acid becomes water and carbon dioxide bubbles in the following decomposition reaction: H2CO3 ➜ H2O + CO2. In my life, the combination of the complexity of the chemistry kit experiments and the fact that chemistry was not included in the second-grade science curriculum formed the unstable foundation for my love of science. My demotivation reaction was the following: Curiosity of science (CS) ➜ Unwillingness to work hard (LaZ) + No knowledge of science (NO2How).

As the carbonic acid decomposes, sodium “leaves” the baking soda and acetate “leaves” the vinegar in a double replacement reaction. They combine to form sodium acetate (CH3COONa), a salt used in food preservation. Because carbon dioxide is heavier than air, the bubbles flow downward and dissipate, leaving only water, sodium acetate and a funny smell.

Two broken test tubes later, all I had left were chemicals too dangerous to use at home. I don’t even know what happened to my career day project. That's probably a good thing since it was all grey and used no colors like my classmates' projects. I thought I was being a good scientist by being professional sticking to one color. But I was just kidding myself.

Thankfully, unlike many, I didn't come to regret my decision later. In tenth grade, I finally took chemistry. The first chapter of the textbook was easy. Basic stuff that encouraged me in my studies. Then came the second chapter, and everything fell apart. Especially when I learned about moles, a concept I could never fully understand and had lots of trouble applying.

So the enchantment is this: the dreams that you have as a kid aren't always the ones you stick to and that's okay. But kids should be allowed to follow their dreams anyway. You never know when it might stick.