A different way of bringing chemicals to life

In October of 2022, I asked myself a question.

"What if molecules were a bit more fluffy?"

This was, in my opinion, the best idea I've ever had.

I first pondered this while looking at the drawings of organic molecules in my 9th grade chemistry textbook. It wasn't the first time I ever tried to anthropomorphize them — but it was the first attempt that garnered any kind of success. I first showed it to my friends on the internet, who liked it so much they told me I should show them to my teachers.

So, how does this work?

tbd...

I was surprised to learn how no one else has attempted this exact method before. If it weren't for me, there would've only been 2 ways that people would anthropomorphize chemistry:

1. drawing a bunch of circles, optionally distinguished by color, connecting them together, and giving them faces and arms or legs
2. drawing each individual element in the periodic table as a (most often human) character

The first approach is, in my opinion, a bit basic. It's efficient at showing the overall molecular shapes, but it doesn't leave that much room to giving each chemical its own personality. It definitely focuses more on the informational aspect of scientific art.

But it's the second approach that I've grown more tired of seeing. I admire the effort that goes into giving each element multiple unique characteristics that make it distinct from all the others, and the resulting designs often look amazing indeed — but the problem is with how limited of a scope they often present. I believe that thinking about chemistry exclusively in terms of elements is not useful towards understanding the world at large. What you need to add is the knowledge of molecules, and how they form and interact with each other. Not only does it help you get a better grasp of how reality operates, it's also, in my opinion, insurmountably more interesting. Constructing molecules from different atoms enables you to build substances such as water, carbon dioxide, acids, bases, and the most common minerals, but most importantly, it opens up the infinite garden of organic chemistry. Its rich ecosystem contains thousands of beautiful forms found in no other subfield, and leads you through the path to uncovering a few secrets of life — but if you never put hydrogen and carbon together, you will forever remain behind its walls.