Thursday, January 24, 2008

When I'm King of the World....

...the term "hydrogen bonding" will not be used. This a very strong dipole-dipole interaction, not a "bond." Students often get confused about the difference between intermolecular forces (IMF) and bonds. Calling an IMF a "bond" when it isn't really a bond, just a very strong IMF, is confusing. I would outlaw this practice.

1 comment:

MJenks said...

My favorite thing is that, in the Lubert Stryer biochem text, he likens a hydrogen bond to a menage a trois.

Hydrogen bond doesn't bother me. The term "cherry picking" does bother me. I don't know why, other than I'm just weird like that. Or an incredible asshole. Or both.