The above banner was by @squidring on twitter. Check out her art here. Multi-talented! 

Chemistry was tweeted in real-time on the 7th November. It seems from feedback I’ve received that it was enjoyed. Obviously there is some room for improvement, so please, if you were disappointed don’t hesitate to tell me what you’d like to see in the next RealTimeChem event. As promised I’ve written this post in order to showcase my observations of the day and my favourite-ist tweets and pictures from the day.

It’s been a reeeeeeeally difficult task, as there was a LOT of excellent #RealTimeChem, so if you don’t see yourself mentioned here, I apologise and still think you were wonderful. All tweets and your time were appreciated.

In keeping with the theme of the event here are 24 of my favourite tweets:

#1 – We’ve all named our lab equipment at some point in time. One of my rotary evaporators was nicknamed “Dingleberry”. Don’t ask why.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266129969313353729

#2 – Renee discovers that the instructions are ALWAYS on the optimistic side.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/265968120106188800

  

#3 – Beware the wrath of the angry chemist. We all know that Chemistry is not always relaxing!

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266140597792952320

#4 – This assuming anecdote is very true to real life chemistry. Who hasn’t walked into the chemical laboratory and smelt something nasty?

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266145185891766272

#5 – A bit of a selfish selection, but I really liked the notion that #RealTimeChem had invaded the lecture room at the University of East Anglia.

#6 – There was a lot of coffee used as fuel on the day. The nectar of the Gods….what was I saying again?

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266118366442434560

#7 – Byron shows some everyday chemistry wisdom.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266134605025918976

#8 – One of Vittorio’s amusing tweets.

#9 – I love this photo of the old fashioned black boards at Oxford by the Conway Group.

#10 – The University of Reading really got into the day tweeting a whole host of chemistry with actual times included! I think this is my favourite, I just love the expression of Jacopo analysing his data and the amount of foil required for one piece of equipment!

#11 – Neesa expresses that feeling we all get when we finally know we’ve got that precious product!

#12 – I agree with Daniel, that sometimes you have to know when to call it a day.

#13 – A beautiful funnel flower of chemistry.

#14 – Ian took RealTimeChem literally and sideways!

#15 – Rhiannon’s group took equipment naming to the next level. I think the pictures on each machine is a nice touch and as you’d expect, I love the film references 😉

#16 – Jen gave me a good chuckle with this tweet. Chemists know how to party. Even in the lab!

#17 – Mudz produced quite a few interesting tweets, but his mystery green sludge (living up to his name!) has to be the highlight simply for been the most wonderful looking mess I’ve ever seen.

#18 – I’m actually not sure what Nathan was trying to achieve here, but as a photochemist I do love a good light show *puts on the protective sunglasses*

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266210327698481152

#19 – Paulette tweeted all the way from Mexico and even braved an Earthquake to RealTimeChem. She wins my award for prettiest work bench.

#20 – I just really like this picture, more coffee and a nice selection of your standard everyday chemistry. A snap shot of a day.

#21 – Andre sums up your typical failed reaction. You can’t count the number of times ‘gooey black rubbish’ has been isolated. Aldrich should sell it, just to save us the reaction time!

#22 – I love the mystery of this photo. Some atmospheric RealTimeChem.

#23 – Andrew looks like he performed chemistry using “Smurf” as a reagent.

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266280283626696704

#24 – Finally, the most pretty separation I’ve see in a long time, from Jess the chemist

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/266150297267732480

Phew! That was quite the challenge choosing 24 tweets from the day, there were others that could and maybe should have made the cut, I just had to be a little ruthless. I could have put in a representative column for instance….but I think those of us in the lab see enough of those already! This pretty much brings RealTimeChem day to its close for me, it shall live on and I’ll keep everyone updated on that. In the meantime as I said in previous posts, feel free to use the hash tag and keep on showing off your chemistry on twitter. Normal service (i.e. irreverent geek humour and chemistry) will resume on the blog next week!

So…. Keep Calm and Do Chemistry!

-The Lab Coat Cowboy-