Most Interesting....

So this past week, I gave my students an early Christmas gift: a quiz for extra points. All they had to do was answer the question, "What was the most interesting thing you learned in this class this semester?" Here are my top answers:

1. …when we talked about drugs…I learned that the mirror image of the molecular structure of cough syrup [is] opium (chiral isomers).
2. I learned how to talk with my boyfriend about chemistry which is good because he is a chemistry major.
   (I love that I've helped someone's relationship.)
   
3. Water has 2 H and 1 O.
4. Merry Christmas (with a Christmas tree drawn below it)/Happy Hanukkah (with a menorah drawn below it)?
   (I circled the Christmas tree and wrote, "Thanks.")
5. I came into this class not knowing how to balance equations. I wrote it on the first quiz. Now I can do it with confidence.
6. I can write [a] number in scientific notation. I know what a wavelength is.
   (For #5 & 6, As my chemistry professor Dr. Hutchinson used to say when we would share what we had learned, "It warms my heart that you know that.")
   
7. It is a tie between learning that most girls are afraid to use the Bunsen burner and hearing about advances in pharmaceuticals.
   (It's definitely true - for some reason, most girls are afraid to use the lighters on the Bunsen burners.)