Page 1 of Advanced Chemistry

1

CHASE

“You can’t have chemistry without catalysts,” I said to my fifth period class, who were having a hard time focusing. It wasn’t hard to understand why. I didn’t need the scientific method to determine that their lack of attention was directly correlated to the warm, sunny weather outside. Trying to teach students in May was a fool's errand, but I soldiered on.

“There are elements that live a humdrum life, doing their proverbial thing, until they come into contact with certain other elements and create something dynamic and new. Chemicals are permanently altered, reconfigured into some other substance. Take iron, for example. For most of its life, iron is iron. It’s a mineral we can eat. It can be used to make metal. It has many purposes for our everyday lives, but nothing out of the ordinary. Until it comes into contact with nitrogen and hydrogen during the Haber Process, and all three elements turn into…”

I paused and turned to the class, waiting for a bevy of raised hands that never came.

“Come on!” I wrote H + Ni + Fe on the markerboard. Why was I the only one excited about this? “What do you get when you add iron to hydrogen and nitrogen? This shouldn’t be a stumper as it was clearly delineated in last night’s reading.”

A good number of blank stares blinked back at me, while the rest of the class was turned toward the sunlit windows.

“Once the class is over, you have your lunch period and you can frolic outside to your heart’s content,” I borderline pleaded.

For some inexplicable reason, getting any of my students to answer a question was like Annie Sullivan trying to get Helen Keller to say water inThe Miracle Worker.

Billy, an unsure gentleman in the second row raised his hand. “Ammonia?”

“Correct!” I needed to invest in a bell to ding. That would make students participate more in class. Young adults loved loud noises. “Isn’t that fascinating to think about? Three disparate chemicals coming together to form a completely new substance. We ingest iron all the time, but then, in the presence of two other chemicals that we breathe in every day, we suddenly get a lethal substance.”

More blank stares. Teaching advanced chemistry was not for the faint of heart, which was a shame since it was such a fun subject.

“Billy, can you explain how the Haber Process works?”

Billy squirmed in his seat.

“Can I use the bathroom pass?”

I slumped my shoulder. “Sure.”

Was it an excuse to get out of answering my question? I didn’t want to take a chance and damage a young man’s bladder. He scurried into the hall.

“How many of you have bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide in the back of your medicine cabinets?” Suspecting that nobody would chime in, I continued on. “Hydrogen Peroxide takes years and years to decompose. The bottle your parents bought when you were babies is still good. Unless…” I held up a finger, getting to the good part. “It comes into contact with a tiny amount of manganese. Then it will decompose instantly! How wild is that?”

Not wild at all, according to my class’s reaction.

“It’s analogous to a class of blank stares all period long, and then at the end, the teacher pulls out a giant bag of potato chips.” I opened the bottom drawer and reached inside. The drawer was empty, but my students didn’t know that. They instantly perked up, moving to the edge of their seats.

“See, you’ve all been activated now, your compositions changed into bright and alert. Unfortunately, that was just a rhetorical example. I don’t keep snacks at my desk because using a marker with greasy hands never goes well.”

Students let out audible sighs and returned to their slumped positions.

“The bottom line: it is impossible to have a chemical reaction without a catalyst. There would be no advanced chemistry without catalysts. Could you imagine your lives without this class?”

The bell was mid-ding, and my students were already out the door, unintentionally answering my question.

* * *

I weavedmy way through the crowded halls. The warm weather streaming into school had made everyone extra giddy. I didn’t feel their excitement. I was an indoors kid, so warm weather only reminded me of being picked last and being forced to play sports at summer camp.

In the teacher’s lounge, I grabbed my lunch from the fridge: tuna fish sandwich, baby carrots, and as always, a Twinkie for dessert. While I understood that Twinkies were chemically engineered “food,” I allowed myself this one indulgence. They were too good to resist, and after they’d been previously discontinued, I never took them for granted.

As I sat down at an empty table to eat, my phone buzzed.

Everett: Impromptu lunch picnic?

Julian: Yes! Should we go on the roof?

---