Applying Science to Daily Life

Fact: Each reaction has a certain amount of activation that needs to be overcome in order for that reaction to occur.

Application: In order to get what you want (the products of the reaction) you need to put in a certain amount of work/time/effort (the activation energy). This holds true for all things in life: jobs, marks, relationships (including family and friends, not just romantic interests), personal gratification… etc.

Fact: Newton’s first law – An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion remains in motion, unless acted by an external force.

Application: People (objects) are lazy (“stay in rest/in motion”) and need some sort of motivation (external force) in order to change their lives/habits/etc. So don’t be afraid to use the force (ok fine, that’s Star Wars, not science… but it’s still applicable).

Fact: Enzymes are catalysts that are used to speed up reactions. However, enzymes are not able to catalyze every reaction, they are specific to their own substrates.

Application: Sometimes you meet certain people (catalysts) that you “click” with almost instantly (substrate specific) and they help you out with certain aspects of your life (speed up rate of reaction). Often they are sources of inspiration and/or support.

Fact: An object’s acceleration is determined by the net sum of all the forces acting upon it. .

Application: Your direction in life (acceleration) is governed by everything you spend your time doing, and everything that you allow yourself to be influenced by (net sum of all the forces).

Fact: Unimolecular nucleophilic substitution (Sn1) reactions tend to occur with tertiary alkyls, which are “crowded”.

Application: The more you pile onto your plate (if you are crowded like a tertiary alkyl) then you will find it very hard for you to juggle your tasks (undergo nucleophilic substitution). You will probably even end up going crazy – nervous breakdown, identity crisis - for a short while (unstable carbocation) before regaining stability in your life.