Struggle∈ℝ

⌬ studyblr for my bachelor's ⌬ queer ⌬ chemistry student ⌬ main: el-the-cell

[the-cormorant]

Hi, this is me. You can call me el or len, my pronouns are at your discretion, because they don't really mean much to me. I am in my second year of university, studying chemistry. Even though i’m in stem, i'm also interested in art, literature, and philosophy. In this blog you'll find your typical studyblr posts, as well as artwork and all things regarding humanities that just tickle my brain right. My main blog is @el-the-cell, where i mostly post about nature-related things. I'll be happy to interact with just about anyone who isn't an asshole, so feel free to send an ask or a message my way. --el

[penandpaper-love]

I'm thinking about creating a one week challenge. I want to make sure I'm doing things that make me happy these holidays and I'm sure this would help.

I'm thinking about doing things that are easy to do and add beauty to your life (like reading, going for a walk, making art,...). And we could take picture and post them with a hashtag.

Would anyone be interested?

[the-cormorant]

Got shown how to work with glass at university! So much fun

[natural-blogarithm]

i think it's vital for every grad student to have a drop-out-of-grad-school fantasy. for example mine is to get an associates degree in scientific glassblowing.

[hazard-symbols-that-fuck-hard]

Posted on the noticeboard outside my uni lab.

[the-cormorant]

Ugh my hands smell so much like sulphur

[screwyouandrew]

If you are a person who sees colorful objects and thinks "I want to eat that right now," being a chemist is gonna hurt

Must...not....bite into ampules and fill my mouth with broken glass and pH indicators

[dirac-equation]

dont care + eating anyway + lots of nutrients

[the-cormorant]

Forbidden slushy

[good-wine-and-cheese]

Ginko as a Brimmed Cap in a Witch Hat Atelier AU.

There's no way Qifrey wasn't somewhat based on Ginko, and outside of that Ginko would pretty easily fit into the Witch Hat world. He would be a brimmed cap to me because I don't think he'd particularly care for the laws that pointed-cap Witches ascribe to magic. If magic can be used to save someone, it shouldn't be a taboo; he's with the doctor-witches.

That said he definitely isn't on board with what the brimmed caps are doing at present; so I feel he'd kind of be more of a wanderer (of course) who uses magic his own way; as long as it's used to help people.

I particularly like the "mugura" mushi and wanted to incorporate it into his magic somehow in this AU; Ginko uses magic to connect to the mycelium network in a given ecosystem, which allows him to receive information through the network similar to how he uses the mugura; but it's a dangerous type of magic that gradually roots him to the network if he uses it for too long. The imprints on his neck and cheek are marks left behind by overusing the magic; if he were to completely succumb to it, he would become a part of the ecosystem.

In my mind the magic functions similarly to the silverwood (though they're completely separate and have entirely different triggers)

[academic-vampire]

𝔟𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔨 𝔪𝔦𝔡𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯

[eddieintheocean]

Introductions to academic papers will be like "everyone knows that the sea is cold (citation), as well as salty (5 different citations). Things live in there (citation) and the environment is important to that (2 citations)"

[disorganisedautodidact]

these tags gave me thesis writing flashbacks

[saltedweather]

the thing about writing history. Is that you get used to this. And sometimes, some of us get too comfortable and so we're writing shit like

"Murder is bad. In the time period discussed, people sometimes committed murders (2 citations). And most people agreed that murder was bad, but it was widely known that murders still happened."

And your advisor goes, "Did most people agree, though? Was it widely known?"

And you go (sigh.). Okay. And do twelve hours of going back through your readings. And rewrite.

"Murder is bad (4 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations)."

And you look at your draft. And you go. But. But we all — I mean, the archival sources from the time are in fact QUITE CLEAR about how widely known it was! Like–! I've read hundreds of letters and a third of them mention murder! I've talked to so many historians of this time and place and we ALL talk about the murder thing!

And you look at the twelve goddamned hours of searching you did. And you write several increadingly desperate emails to colleagues. And after another few days, you come to the agonizing realization that, in fact, there are no citations of published work establishing that people knew murders occurred despite them being bad and against the law. And then you spend another week looking up those archival sources. And you rewrite again.

"Murder is bad (6 citations). In this time, people sometimes committed murders (6 citations). People did not all agree that it was bad (2 citations). There was disagreement about exactly how bad (3 citations). While no conclusive study has been done, from communications in this time, we can say that at least a significant number of people knew that murders still occurred (18 citations)."

[bucketofdeltav]

I currently have exactly this problem.

"Everyone knows that [reaction A] works like this and [reaction B] works like that". Very common way to start a paper or thesis in this field. Everybody knows this, we can carry on with the more interesting stuff about [reaction C].

Huh. These 73 citations all cite each other in a ouroboros and the only original source in the lot is a popular science book which is indeed worth citing, but it's a memoir, which I have read repeatedly, and the author of the memoir just threw this out there as another example of "things everyone just knew in those days".

...I am now doing a PhD on "Hang on just one second, we have no concrete evidence for how [reaction A] or [reaction B] work and even whether they're different at all."

[the-cormorant]

12-14/100 days of productivity

I’ve done a lot in those three days. I finished my Mesityl oxide experiment, started and finished my bromohexane (will hand it in on monday). I got fairly good points for both yield and purity :)

I also wrote two protocols which i am not proud of at all. I am still very bad at formal writing, but practice will fix that issue i suppose

[the-cormorant]

11/100 days of productivity

Today i finished writing my first lab report, did an oral test for my next experiment, and started it. It was an elimination reaction to obtain Mesityl Oxide. It includes doing two destillations, of which i did the first one. Due to extreme weather conditions, everything has icicles :)

[the-cormorant]

9-10/100 days of productivity

During the weekend i focused on writing my lab reports. It was kind of a pain, especially cause i’m writing them in german, and i don’t have much experience with this kind of writing, sadly. I am still missing a lot of stuff to do, but i’ve certainly made progress. I also studied for the oral test for my first experiment

[the-cormorant]

8/100 days of productivity

Today was tough, but i got a lot of stuff done in the lab. Look at my Toluensulfonic acid crystals! I got the rest of my extraction done, and also did a distillation :) i feel incredibly inadequate because a lot of the people who are doing this already have lab experience and i do not at all :(

[erbiumspectrum]

Yellow or pink?

Here's a solution of a holmium coordination compound. When illuminated by the sunlight, it appears yellow. But when I move the beaker away from the window and towards the lab's artificial light, it seems to become pink. You may be tempted to think there's some well-timed chemical reaction going on, but that's not what happens here. Because the lanthanides have partially filled f-orbitals, they possess very rich electronic structures with relatively small differences between their energy levels. As a result, their compounds - and especially those of holmium and neodymium - often have different colors under different light sources!

[the-cormorant]

7/100 days of productivity

Almost done with my extraction, and i set up my ethanol to dry with sodium metal overnight. I have to admit, I almost cried. The extraction just would not work. But alas, we keep on going. Just don’t stop. Keep going, keep going, keep going. You’re gonna make it to the end. Also, i wrote some of the lab report for the chromatography.

[the-cormorant]

6/100 days of productivity

Lab days go by do quickly, i feel like i can barely keep track. Today i worked on a liquid liquid extraction, after finishing my chromatography column. I am exhausted and i have so much still to do… i am tired. I got to watch the sunset from the lab window, and it was wonderful.