Editing 2552: The Last Molecule

{{comic
| number    = 2552
| date      = December 8, 2021
| title     = The Last Molecule
| image     = the_last_molecule.png
| titletext = Biology is really struggling; they're barely at 93% and they keep finding more ants.
}}

== Explanation ==

This comic jokingly proposes a situation in which chemists have discovered and cataloged every single possible molecule. Thus they declare they have "completed chemistry." Both parts of this are humorously incorrect.

In real life the number of ways to arrange atoms into molecules grows combinatorically with the number of atoms in a molecule. Since molecules can be extremely large (up until the point where gravity takes over and initiates nuclear fusion), the number of possible combinations is much much larger than the number of particles in the observable universe, making the full cataloguing of all molecules impossible. Thus, a "final molecule" cannot be reached.

Even if it were possible to catalog every molecule, though, chemistry would not be completed. This is because chemistry is not simply about cataloging molecules: rather, it's the study of how molecules, and atoms, interact with themselves and each other. The goal of any science is not to "complete" a field, but to understand it better and better.

Adding to the humor is the very high percentages, and the precision, given to the other fields shown in the comic. Putting Biology at 93% and Physics at 98% is patently absurd. As mentioned in the title text, we can't even give a definitive answer to deceptively simple questions like "How many kinds of ants are there?"

If biology ''were'' simply a matter of cataloguing species, we are currently at around 10-20%. Even this estimate is hard to nail down, partly because species are being constantly created and recategorized. Even if it were possible to know exactly what animals were alive on Earth at any one moment, and which could interbreed, there would still be no agreement on the number of species they constituted. And even if were possible to catalog every species, biology would still be faced with fundamental and important problems such as what genes promote which traits, the nature of cognition, and the mechanism behind several diseases.

As for physics, the 2012 detection of the {{w|Higgs Boson}} did complete the experimental detection of all the elementary particles of the Standard Model of particle physics. However, questions such as "what is dark matter?", "how do we unify the four fundamental forces?", "how do we make nuclear fusion possible on earth?", and "how many dimensions does the universe have?" make it clear that the field still has a long way to go.

The title text makes fun of Biology lagging behind due to finding more ants. There are very many species of ants and other insects: when J.B.S Haldane, founder of the field of population genetics, was asked what he learned about God from studying creation, he reportedly said [https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/23/beetles/ "God is incredibly fond of beetles"].

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is presenting on a stage. To the top-center of the slide which Ponytail is pointing to, there is a circled "100% complete" under "Chemistry", then to the left is "Biology" which is at "93% complete" and to the right is "Physics" which is at "98% complete". The bottom of the slide shows the [[wikipedia:structural formula|structural formula]] of a molecule which is captioned "The Last One", along with a few smaller captions around it drawn as squiggles.]

:Ponytail: With the discovery of the last molecule, I'm pleased to announce that chemistry is finally complete.
:Ponytail: Best of luck to our competitors in their race for second place.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Ants]]